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 .
DETAILED ACTION
The instant application having Application No. 18/918,910 is presented for examination by the examiner.
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant's claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d). The certified copy has been received.
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) as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor, or for pre-AIA the applicant regards as the invention.
As per claims 1, 12, and 19, the terms “a user’s” and “a user” constitute a reciting a user twice because later the motion is tied to the user. Appropriate correction is required. Dependent claims 2-11, 13-18, and 20 are likewise rejected.
As per claims 3 and 14, a second signal is defined after already having defined a second signal in claims 1 and 12.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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, 3, 5-10, 12, 14, 16, 17, and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by USP Application Publication 2020/0285873 to Condon.
As per claims 1, 12, and 19, Condon teaches an electronic device comprising:
at least one motion sensor [motion sensor 110];
at least one biometric sensor [biometric sensors 12 (ECG)];
memory storing one or more computer programs (Fig. 5);
and one or more processors communicatively coupled to the at least one motion sensor, the at least one biometric sensor, and the memory, wherein the one or more computer programs include computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors (Fig. 5), cause the electronic device to:
based on receiving a request for user authentication (0061), acquire a first signal through the at least one motion sensor [motion detected:0061], and acquire a second signal through the at least one biometric sensor (0061),
acquire motion information indicating a type of a user’s motion based on the first signal (0078 and 0095),
acquire biometric information indicating a biometric feature of a user according to the motion of the user based on the second signal [motion triggers biometric capturing; 0063 and 0095], and input the motion information and the biometric information into a user authentication model (0017), and perform the user authentication according to whether the type of the motion (0078) and the biometric feature match authentication information (0064 and 0107).
As per claims 3 and 14, Condon teaches based on the first signal starting to be received through the at least one motion sensor, acquire a second signal through the at least one biometric sensor [large motion trigger authentication; 0061 and 0062].
As per claim 5, Condon teaches the at least one biometric sensor comprises a bioimpedance sensor (0003 and 0064), and wherein the biometric information comprises information on an electrical feature transmitted from at least one of a muscle, a tissue, or a joint of the user according to the motion of the user (0004 and 0077).
As per claim 6 Condon teaches the at least one biometric sensor comprises a heartbeat sensor (0062 and 0092), and wherein the biometric information comprises information on a heart rate feature transmitted from a heart of the user while the motion of the user is being performed (0065).
As per claim 7, Condon teaches acquire stress information indicating a stress level of the user based on the biometric information (0064 and 0108), and wherein the user authentication model performs the user authentication according to whether the stress level (0068 and 0070), the type of the motion (0072), and the heart rate feature (0080 and 0081) match the authentication information [all of these indicators are used to authenticate the user].
As per claims 8 and 16, Condon teaches perform pre-processing for removing at least one of noises or trends of the first signal and the second signal (0105 and 0106); and acquire the motion information (0072) and the biometric information based on the pre-processed first signal and the pre-processed second signal (0063-0066 and 0105-0106).
As per claim 9, Condon teaches a wearing part (0017), wherein one or more sensors included in the at least one motion sensor (0054) and the at least one biometric sensor are coupled to the wearing part (0111 and Fig. 5).
As per claims 10 and 17, Condon teaches a communicator (240 transmitter; 0054], wherein the one or more computer programs further include computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the electronic device to:
based on identifying that the user is an unregistered user as a result that the user authentication was performed [authentication failed], maintain locking of the electronic device [stays in authentication failed state; 0070 and 0091], and control the communicator to transmit a message for guiding that authentication by an unregistered user was performed to an external device connected to the electronic device [transmits authentication response to external terminal and the physiological state of the user to the terminal; 0066].
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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 of this title, 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.
Claims 2, 11, 13, 18, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Condon in view of USP Application Publication 20190268321 to Kim et al., hereinafter Kim.
As per claims 2, 13, and 20, Condon teaches updating the authentication information based on the motion information and the biometric information (0070). Condon is silent in explicitly teaching to release locking of the electronic device. Condon does explicitly teach successful authentication unlocks other devices (terminal) but not the device to which the sensors reside. On the other hand. Kim teaches teaching to release locking of the electronic device that has the biometric sensors (0243). Kim device can also be a wearable device (0046). Condon already teaches the electronic has a display that shows the result of authentication (0066). Thus, it would have been obvious to unlock the device itself after successful authentication. The claim is obvious because one of ordinary skill in the art can combine methods known before the effective filing date which produce predictable results.
As per claims 11 and 18, Condon teaches an outputter [display screen; 0066], wherein the one or more computer programs further include computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the electronic device to:
based on identifying that the user is an unregistered user as a result that the user authentication was performed, maintain locking of the electronic device [device remain in a locked state that does not permit user to access the terminal when authentication fails; 0070 and 0091]. Condon is silent in explicitly teaching to control the outputter to output a guide message for requesting additional authentication. On the other hand, Kim teaches to control the outputter to output a guide message for requesting additional authentication (0339). Since the display of Condon displays the result of an authentication it would have been useful to give the user feedback that more authentication is required when it fails. Thus, the teaching of Kim would have provided this useful user feedback with predictable result. The claim is obvious because one of ordinary skill in the art can combine methods known before the effective filing date which produce predictable results.
Claims 4 and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Condon in view of USP 9,277,334 to Wong et al., hereinafter Wong.
As per claims 4 and 15, Condon is silent in explicitly teaching the at least one biometric sensor comprises a bone conduction sensor, and wherein the biometric information comprises information on an audio feature transmitted from at least one of a bone or a joint of the user according to the motion of the user. Wong on the other hand teaches, the at least one biometric sensor comprises a bone conduction sensor (col. 13, lines 10-15), and wherein the biometric information comprises information on an audio feature transmitted from at least one of a bone or a joint of the user according to the motion of the user (col. 13, line 60-col. 14, line 8). Wong clearly teaches a bone conduction biometrical authentication. When activated to authenticate the bone conduction sensor sends and receives an audio signal through the user’s bones. Condon already discloses that large movements can trigger authentication process and teaches many types of biometric sensors. Substituting one type of biometric sensor for another yields a predictable result. The claim is obvious because one of ordinary skill in the art can substitute methods known before the effective filing date which produce predictable results.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure is listed on the enclosed PTO-892 form.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MICHAEL R. VAUGHAN whose telephone number is (571)270-7316. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday - Friday, 9:30am - 5:30pm, EST. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Lynn Feild can be reached on (571) 272-2092. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/MICHAEL R VAUGHAN/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2431