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 .
Claims 1-17 are presented for examination.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 11/22/2024. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Claim Objections
Claims are objected to because of the following informalities:
Claim 5, the acronym term “ECDSA” in line 12 must be written out.
Claim 13, the acronym term “ECDSA” in line 10 must be written out.
Claim 17, the limitation “the difference” in line 4 should be – a difference --.
Appropriate correction is required.
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.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 15-17 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.
Regarding independent claim 15, the claim recites the limitation "a program" in lines 6, 11, and 21. It is unclear whether it is same program or different program in the claim. Therefore, it renders the claim indefinite. For purpose of examination, the limitation "a program" in lines 6, 11, and 21 has been interpreted as a first program in line 6, a second program in line 11, and a third program in line 21, respectively.
Claims 16-17 are also rejected due to dependency.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 15-17 would be allowable if rewritten or amended to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action.
Claims 1-14 are allowed.
The following is an examiner's statement of reasons for allowance:
The present invention is directed to a method and system for generating a digital signature for a message including a first signature generation apparatus receives and registers first auxiliary data generated based on a first signature key and first biometric information and a second signature generation apparatus acquires second biometric information, generates a second distributed key, generates second auxiliary data using the second biometric information and the second distributed key and transmits a message and the second auxiliary data to the first signature generation apparatus, which generates a first distributed key using the first auxiliary data and the second auxiliary data, wherein the first and second signature generation apparatuses execute a distributed signing process using at least the first and second distributed keys to generate a signature for the message.
The closest prior arts, as currently recited, Takahashi (US Patent No. 10,057,068 B2) and Tuyls et al. (US Patent No. 8,775,809 B2), are also generally directed to various aspects of generating a digital signature for electronic documents using biometric information as secret key.
However, none of the cited prior art of record alone or in combination teaches or suggests the specific combination of steps or elements as recited in the independent claims 1 and 9. In particular, none of the cited prior art of record alone or in combination teaches or suggests, when considered as a whole, wherein the first signature generation apparatus is configured to receive first auxiliary data generated based on a first signature key and first biometric information to store the first auxiliary data in a storage, wherein the second signature generation apparatus is configured to: acquire second biometric information; generate a second distributed key; acquire a message to be signed; generate second auxiliary data using the second biometric information and the second distributed key; and transmit the message and the second auxiliary data to the first signature generation apparatus, wherein the first signature generation apparatus is configured to on reception of the second auxiliary data, generate a first distributed key using the first auxiliary data and the second auxiliary data, and wherein the first signature generation apparatus and the second signature generation apparatus are configured to perform a distributed signing process using at least the first distributed key and the second distributed key to generate a signature for the message. Therefore, the independent claims 1 and 9 are allowed. The dependent claims 2-8 and 10-14 are also allowed because of dependency.
Any comments considered necessary by applicant must be submitted no later than the payment of the issue fee and, to avoid processing delays, should preferably accompany the issue fee. Such submissions should be clearly labeled "Comments on Statement of Reasons for Allowance.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure (see PTO-892).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BAOTRAN N TO whose telephone number is (571)272-8156. The examiner can normally be reached M-F: 8-5.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Amir Mehrmanesh can be reached at 571-270-3351. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/BAOTRAN N TO/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2435
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