Detailed Action
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
In applicant’s Remarks filed on 4/15/2026, no claims were cancelled; claims 1, 2, 9, 9, 15, and 16 were amended; no new claims was/were added. As a result, claims 1-20 are pending, of which claims 1, 8 and 15 are in independent form.
The examiner notes that claims 17-20 should be dependent on claim 16 instead of claim 15.
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after allowance or after an Office action under Ex Parte Quayle, 25 USPQ 74, 453 O.G. 213 (Comm'r Pat. 1935). Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, prosecution in this application has been reopened pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 4/15/2026 has been entered.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-3, 7-14, 16-20 are allowed.
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1, 15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Dover (US 2023/0127278 A1).
As to claim 1, Dover teaches a method comprising:
generating, by a device, a Compound Device Identifier (CDI) using a one-way hash function, wherein the CDI is based on a device secret and a hash of code running on the device (see claim 1,”generate a key based at least in part on a unique device secret associated with the apparatus and on content stored at the apparatus”; see para. [0084] “[0084] In some examples, the semiconductor device 410 may include a device identity generation engine 420, which may be configured to generate a key based on a unique device secret (UDS) 430 and content 435 (e.g., content stored at the system platform 405). The UDS 430 may represent or provide a hardware-based secret identity, such as a deterministic key that is specific to the semiconductor device 410, which may be stored in fuses, read-only memory, or a PUF (e.g., a PUF 255), among other examples. The content 435 may refer to content stored at the semiconductor device 410 (e.g., content 280), which may include various types of code, data, or other information. In some examples, the content 435 may represent code (e.g., firmware) that is executed at the system platform 405 (e.g., by a memory system controller 115 or a local controller 135), such as a boot loader, or early boot code (e.g., first-stage boot code, “L0” boot code, code executed when the system platform 405 is powered up or initialized, immutable or nearly immutable code). In some examples, the content 435 may include content (e.g., code, data) that is called or requested by a host system 105 (e.g., second-stage boot code, “L1” boot code), which may be stored in a local memory 120 or a memory device 130 of the semiconductor device 410, among other examples. For instance, the content 435 may be data used by the host system 105 or code (e.g., firmware) that is meant for execution by the host system 105 and is stored at the semiconductor device 410 (e.g., memory system 110), as the semiconductor device 410 may store either data or code for use (e.g., execution or manipulation) by the host system 105. A key may be generated by the device identity generation engine 420 based at least in part on a combination of the UDS 430 and the content 435. In some examples, such a key may be referred to as a CDI 440 which, in some examples, may be a symmetric key. Thus, regardless of whether the content 435 is for access or execution by a host system 105 external to the semiconductor device 410 or is exclusively for use by the semiconductor device 410 (e.g., on or more controllers thereon), the key may be generated by device identity generation engine 420 based on the content 435, as the content 435 may be stored at the semiconductor device 410.”); and
using the CDI to generate an asymmetric key pair comprising a private key and a public key (see para. [0085] “[0085] The CDI 440 may be provided to the asymmetric key generation engine 450, which may generate keys 460, such as an asymmetric key pair (e.g., a private key and an associated public key, a DeviceID asymmetric key pair), which may include a public key that is generated based at least in part on the private key. Because at least the content 435, the UDS 430, and the asymmetric key generation engine 450 are all included in the same semiconductor device (e.g., a same SoC or other semiconductor implementation), the CDI 440 is not exposed outside the semiconductor device 410, such keys 460 may be generated and signaled without exposing the CDI 440 to the system software (e.g., platform software 415). Because any difference associated with the UDS 430, or the content 435, or any cryptographic information associated with the UDS 430 or content 435 would result in an inability to authenticate or decrypt related signaling, such an implementation may be more secure than other techniques where a CDI 440 may be exposed.”).
As to claim 15, claim 15 includes similar limitations as in claim 1 and thus claim 15 is/are rejected under the same rationale as in claim 1.
As to claim 4, in view of claim 1, Dover teaches wherein using the CDI to generate the asymmetric key pair comprises: using a deterministic asymmetric key generation algorithm with the CDI as input to generate the private key and the public key (see para. [0084] “A key may be generated by the device identity generation engine 420 based at least in part on a combination of the UDS 430 and the content 435. In some examples, such a key may be referred to as a CDI 440 which, in some examples, may be a symmetric key. Thus, regardless of whether the content 435 is for access or execution by a host system 105 external to the semiconductor device 410 or is exclusively for use by the semiconductor device 410 (e.g., on or more controllers thereon), the key may be generated by device identity generation engine 420 based on the content 435, as the content 435 may be stored at the semiconductor device 410.”; see also para. [0085]).
As to claim 5, in view of claim 1, Dover teaches wherein creating the certificate containing the public key comprises: generating an X.509-formatted certificate structure containing the public key (see para. [0087] “In some examples, the keys 460 may be provided to a certificate generation engine 480, which may be included in the platform software 415. The certificate generation engine 480 may be an example of functionality to generate a certificate for operation with a host system 105 based at least in part on the keys 460. In some examples, the certificate generation engine 480 may support the generation of a certificate in accordance with an X.509 protocol, which may bind an identity to a public key using a digital signature.”).
As to claim 6, in view of claim 1, Dover teaches further comprising: generating one or more alias keys using the CDI and a hash of a next layer of software on the device (see para. [0088]-[0091]).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HEE K SONG whose telephone number is (571)270-3260. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 9:00 am – 5:00 pm.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Eleni Shiferaw can be reached on (571)272-3867 . The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-7291.
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/HEE K SONG/PRIMARY Examiner, Art Unit 2497
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