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 .
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.
Claim(s) 1-3, 7-15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Hiertz et al. (hereinafter Hiertz)(WO 2017/026930)
Regarding claim 1, Hiertz teaches a computer-implemented method, comprising: receiving, by a customer-premises equipment (CPE) from a connected device via a first encrypted wireless connection, an active media access control (MAC) address and a true MAC address of the connected device(Page 9, lines 1-22; true MAC address and random MAC address ; public key to encrypt the MAC address; page 28, line 11, customer premises equipment CPE);
receiving, by the CPE from the connected device via a second wireless connection, a data communication that contains the active MAC address of the connected device and omits the true MAC address of the connected device (page 9, lines 1-22; random MAC address is visible to the outside; device’s true MAC address , however, is never exposed)
in response to detecting, by the CPE, that the data communication is addressed to an internal service within the CPE associating, by the CPE, the true MAC address of the connected device with the data communication, and transmitting, by the CPE to the internal service, the data communication that contains the active MAC address of the connected device and is associated with the true MAC address of the connected device(Page 19, lines 30-34; Page 20, lines 1-3; STA uses a random MAC address for its initial and all subsequent messages of a communication with an AP; Page 14, lines 1-4; access point is able to construct a mapping between the randomly generated MAC address of the SAT and the true MAC address of the STA).
Regarding claim 2, Hiertz teaches the method of claim 1, further comprising: in response to detecting, by the CPE, that the data communication is addressed to a destination other than in the CPE, transmitting, by the CPE, the data communication to the destination other than in the CPE(page 9, lines 1-20; a random MAC address can be used for WLAN association and only the random MAC address is visible to an external observer, and the network has means of obtaining the device's true MAC address, so that the network can use stored user context in order to improve the user experience; page 17, lines 10-12, traffic towards external hosts can be forwarded by the A).
Regarding claim 3, Hiertz teaches the method of claim 1, further comprising: establishing, by the connected device, the first encrypted wireless connection to the CPE; and in response to detecting, by the connected device, that the CPE is trusted, transmitting, by the connected device to the CPE via the first encrypted wireless connection, the active MAC address and the true MAC address of the connected device(page 20; lines 10-20; avoid real MAC address be revealed to an AP that it wants to hide from or does not trust).
Regarding claim 7, Hiertz teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the CPE is configured to implement a local area network (LAN) for the data communication of the connected device, and an access for the data communication to a wide area network (WAN)(Page 2; lines 5-10, where the WLAN system is integrated with a cellular system, the STA's MAC address is usually used to link the WLAN information with the respective cellular information).
Regarding claim 8, Hiertz teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the CPE is configured to implement a platform for the internal service, and the internal service is configured to register the connected device with the true MAC address(page 18, lines 24-26; AP learn of the STA’s true MAC address; P[0025], AP is configured to obtain a mapping between the MAC address assigned to the ST and the MAC address used as an identifier in the received message).
Regarding claim 9, Hiertz teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the active MAC address comprises a randomized MAC address of the connected device(page 20; line 1, random MAC address for its initial and all subsequent messages of a communication).
Regarding claim 10, Hiertz teaches the method of claim 1, wherein the true MAC address comprises one of a vendor-embedded MAC address, or a randomized MAC address used for an initial registration to the internal service within the CPE(Page 20, line 1, random MAC address for its initial and all subsequent messages of a communication).
Claims 11-15 are rejected for the same reason as set forth in claims 1, 2, 9, 7 and 1 respectively.
Claim(s) 16 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Somalinga et al. (hereinafter Somalinga)(US 2018/0167812).
Regarding claim 16, Somalinga teaches a computer-implemented method comprising: establishing, by a connected device, a wireless connection to a customer-premises equipment (CPE); generating, by the connected device, a present radio frequency fingerprint based on a present radio signal received from the CPE via the wireless connection; and in response to finding a match of the present radio frequency fingerprint with one or more past radio frequency fingerprints of one or more past wireless connections to the CPE, determining that the CPE is trusted(P[0035], devices receiving gateway’s Wi-Fi signal at levels at or above the threshold can be considered to be within the trusted zone; periodically measure received signal strength).
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.
Claim(s) 4-5 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hiertz et al. (hereinafter Hiertz)(WO 2017/026930) in view of Balraj et al. (hereinafter Balraj)(US 2018/0359113)
Regarding claim 4, Hiertz teaches all the particulars of the claim except wherein detecting, by the connected device, that the CPE is trusted further comprises: generating, by the connected device, a present radio frequency fingerprint based on a present radio signal received from the CPE via the first encrypted wireless connection; and in response to finding a match of the present radio frequency fingerprint with one or more past radio frequency fingerprints of one or more past wireless connections to the CPE, determining that the CPE is trusted. However, Balraj teaches in an analogous art wherein detecting, by the connected device, that the CPE is trusted further comprises: generating, by the connected device, a present radio frequency fingerprint based on a present radio signal received from the CPE via the first encrypted wireless connection; and in response to finding a match of the present radio frequency fingerprint with one or more past radio frequency fingerprints of one or more past wireless connections to the CPE, determining that the CPE is trusted(P[0014], The server 116 can include a database that stores a plurality of Wi-Fi fingerprints associated with the zone, the room, or the monitored region 104 and a plurality of electromagnetic fingerprints associated with the zone, the room, or the monitored region 104; P[0016], For example, the gateway receiver device 102 can transmit the measured RSSI and EMF values to the server 116, which can compare the measured RSSI and EMF values to the plurality of Wi-Fi fingerprints and the plurality of electromagnetic fingerprints stored in the database and associated with the monitored region to determine whether the measured RSSI and EMF values match any of the plurality of Wi-Fi fingerprints and any of the plurality of electromagnetic fingerprints and, if so, that the one of the transmitter devices 106-112 is within the zone, the room, or the monitored region 104). Therefore, it would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention wherein detecting, by the connected device, that the CPE is trusted further comprises: generating, by the connected device, a present radio frequency fingerprint based on a present radio signal received from the CPE via the first encrypted wireless connection; and in response to finding a match of the present radio frequency fingerprint with one or more past radio frequency fingerprints of one or more past wireless connections to the CPE, determining that the CPE is trusted in order to have improved security.
Regarding claim 17, Balraj teaches the method of claim 4, further comprising: in response to not finding a match of the present radio frequency fingerprint with the one or more past radio frequency fingerprints of the one or more past wireless connections to the CPE, determining that the CPE is not trusted(P[0014-0016]).
Claim(s) 17, 6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Hiertz et al. (hereinafter Hiertz)(WO 2017/026930) in view of Agostani et al. (hereinafter Agostani)(US 2024/0056331)
Regarding claim 17, Hiertz teaches a computer-implemented method comprising: establishing, by a connected device, an encrypted wireless connection to a customer-premises equipment (CPE)(page 28, CPE);
receiving, by the connected device via the encrypted wireless connection, a public key of the public-key cryptography(abstract, providing a public key for encryption to a mobile station);
encrypting, by the connected device, an unencrypted secret message using the public key to obtain an encrypted secret message(abstract, utilizing the obtained public key for encryption);
transmitting, by the connected device via the encrypted wireless connection, the encrypted secret message via the CPE (abstract, transmission to the access point to enable the access point to decrypt the encrypted MAC address);
intercepting, by the CPE, the encrypted secret message; decrypting, by the third party service, the encrypted secret message using the private key to obtain unencrypted secret message(abstract, transmission to the access point to enable the access point to decrypt the encrypted MAC address);
decrypting, by the CPE, the encrypted secret message using the private key to obtain a CPE unencrypted secret message(abstract, decrypting by utilizing at least the access pont’s private key);
Hiertz did not teach specifically receiving, by the CPE from a third party service via an encrypted connection, a private key of a public-key cryptography; transmitting, by the CPE to the third party service via an encrypted connection, the third party service unencrypted secret message; and in response to verifying, by the third party service, that the third party service unencrypted secret message and the CPE unencrypted secret message are identical, transmitting, by the third party service to the connected device via the encrypted wireless connection, a message instructing that the CPE is trusted
However, Agostani teaches in an analogous art receiving, by the CPE from a third party service via an encrypted connection, a private key of a public-key cryptography; transmitting, by the CPE to the third party service via an encrypted connection, the third party service unencrypted secret message; and in response to verifying, by the third party service, that the third party service unencrypted secret message and the CPE unencrypted secret message are identical, transmitting, by the third party service to the connected device via the encrypted wireless connection, a message instructing that the CPE is trusted(P[0005], third-party network determining via pre-entrollment server that the handshake packet is legitimate; obtaining identification parameters from the CPE; P[0035], identification parameters such as CPE configures IP; P[0045], determines whether that the public CPE cryptokey matches the expected crypto key; also Fig. 4).
Therefore, it would be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention to receiving, by the CPE from a third party service via an encrypted connection, a private key of a public-key cryptography; transmitting, by the CPE to the third party service via an encrypted connection, the third party service unencrypted secret message; and in response to verifying, by the third party service, that the third party service unencrypted secret message and the CPE unencrypted secret message are identical, transmitting, by the third party service to the connected device via the encrypted wireless connection, a message instructing that the CPE is trusted in order to have improved secure connection.
Claim 6 is rejected for the same reason as set forth in claim 17.
Conclusion
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/MUTHUSWAMY G MANOHARAN/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2647
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