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
This communication is in response to the application filed on 12/05/2024 in which Claims 1-20 are presented for examination.
Drawings
The applicant’s drawings submitted on 12/052024 are acceptable for examination purposes.
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.
(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, 7-8, 15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) and (a)(2) as being anticipated by DESTEFANIS U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 20200186335 A1 (hereinafter " DESTEFANIS").
As to claim 1, DESTEFANIS teaches a device authorization method, comprising: binding a controlling device (DESTEFANIS Pa. [0050-0051]) [mining nodes and/or other types of specialized nodes may rely on the network of storage and or validator nodes to manage the maintenance of the mempool. In some examples below, the term specialized node may be used to refer to a node that has a particular role in the blockchain network, such as a validator node, a storage node, or the like, note: “controlling device is the same as specialized node”] and an accessory device (DESTEFANIS Fig. 5, Pa. [0072-0073]) [the requesting node 504 (read accessory device)] to negotiate a first credential and a second credential (DESTEFANIS Pa. [0073]) [the group of nodes 502 granting credentials to the requesting node 504], wherein the first credential is non-distributable and is used to authenticate the controlling device, and the second credential is distributable and is used to authenticate an authorized device; and in response to receiving a sharing request for the second credential, sending, by the controlling device, the second credential to the authorized device when an attribute of the second credential is distributable (DESTEFANIS Pa. [0010]) [o authenticate each other as credentialed by a group of autonomous specialized nodes, without involving the group or involving a centralized certificate manager or authenticator. The method may involve a first node and a second node using bilinear pairing operations involving their respective identifiers and secret points to derive the same key. Provided the secret points and identifiers were obtained from the group using the group private key the bilinear pairing operation leads to generation of the same key at each of the two nodes, thereby authenticating their respective credentials and enabling trusted communications between the two nodes.]
As to claim 7, DESTEFANIS teaches wherein the method further comprises: setting, by the controlling device, a management policy for the first credential and a management policy for the second credential in response to an input user operation, wherein each management policy comprises at least one of a quantity of allowed connection times, allowed connection duration, accessible data, or an accessible service; and sending, by the controlling device, the management policy for the first credential and the management policy for the second credential to the accessory device (DESTEFANIS Pa. [0010]) [o authenticate each other as credentialed by a group of autonomous specialized nodes, without involving the group or involving a centralized certificate manager or authenticator. The method may involve a first node and a second node using bilinear pairing operations involving their respective identifiers and secret points to derive the same key. Provided the secret points and identifiers were obtained from the group using the group private key the bilinear pairing operation leads to generation of the same key at each of the two nodes, thereby authenticating their respective credentials and enabling trusted communications between the two nodes.]
As to claim 8, claim 8 recites the claimed that contain respectively similar limitations as claim 1; therefore, it is rejected under the same rationale.
As to claim 15 claim 5 recites the claimed that contain respectively similar limitations as claim 1; therefore, it is rejected under the same rationale.
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 pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
(a) A patent may not be obtained though the invention is not identically disclosed or described as set forth in section 102 of this title, if the differences between the subject matter sought to be patented and the prior art are such that the subject matter as a whole would have been obvious at the time the invention was made to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which said subject matter pertains. Patentability shall not be negatived by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 2-6, 9, 16-20 are rejected under pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over DESTEFANIS U.S. Patent No. 20200186335 A1 (hereinafter " DESTEFANIS ") in view of MURUGESAN US 20220322081 A1.
As to claim 2, DESTEFANIS teaches wherein the binding a controlling device and an accessory device to negotiate a first credential and a second credential comprises: establishing, by the controlling device, a communication connection to the accessory device (DESTEFANIS Pa. [0010]) [authenticating their respective credentials and enabling trusted communications between the two nodes]
It is noted that DESTEFANIS does not appear explicitly disclose generating, by the controlling device, a shared key based on an out-of-band shared password, wherein the out-of-band shared password is used to bind the accessory device, and the accessory device comprises the shared key or has generated the shared key based on the out-of-band shared password; negotiating, by the controlling device, the first credential with the accessory device based on the shared key; and negotiating, by the controlling device, the second credential with the accessory device based on the shared key.
However, MURUGESAN discloses generating, by the controlling device, a shared key based on an out-of-band shared password (MURUGESAN Pa. [0061]) [s in-band key sharing) or the out-of-band communication medium (herein referred to as out-of-band key sharing)], wherein the out-of-band shared password is used to bind the accessory device, and the accessory device comprises the shared key or has generated the shared key based on the out-of-band shared password (MURUGESAN Pa. [0034]) [the station device, which is authenticated during in band key
sharing and out-of-band key sharing, decrypts the received one or more management frames utilizing the encryption key and extracts connection information of the AP device for connecting to the closed Wi-Fi hotspot network.];
negotiating, by the controlling device, the first credential with the accessory device based on the shared key; and negotiating, by the controlling device, the second credential with the accessory device based on the shared key (MURUGESAN Pa. [0084]) [include transmitting, by the AP device 101, an encryption key 205 to one or more station devices 103 over an in-band communication medium (also referred to as in-band key sharing) or an out-of-band communication medium (also referred to as out-of-band key sharing) upon receiving the first input. The one or more station devices 103]
Thus, it would have been recognized by one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, that applying the known technique taught by MURUGESAN to the authentication system of DESTEFANIS would have yield predictable results and resulted in an improved system, namely, a system that would transmit an encryption key to the station device, which is present within a predefined region, over an in-band communication medium or an out-of-band communication medium (MURUGESAN Pa. [0002])
As to claim 3, the combination of DESTEFANIS and MURUGESAN teaches wherein the accessory device comprises a first public key and a first private key corresponding to the first public key, the controlling device comprises a second public key and a second private key corresponding to the second public key, and the negotiating, by the controlling device, the first credential with the accessory device based on the shared key comprises (DESTEFANIS Pa. [0088]) [communications between the two nodes simply rely on the above-described procedure to validate/authenticate each others' credentials, and communications between the two nodes are either not encrypted or are encrypted using the nodes' usual public-private key pairs.]:
exchanging, by the controlling device, a public key with the accessory device based on the shared key to obtain the first public key; and storing, by the controlling device, the first credential, wherein the first credential stored in the controlling device comprises the first public key, the second public key, and the second private key, and the first credential stored in the accessory device comprises the first public key, the first private key, and the second public key (DESTEFANIS Pa. [0011]) [node to obtain a credential from a group of specialized nodes, each of the specialized nodes having a private key share of a group private key. The method includes sending a request, from the node to a plurality of the specialized nodes, for the credential, wherein the node has an identifier; receiving, from each node in the plurality of the specialized nodes, a portion of a secret point generated by that node from the identifier and that node's private key share.]
As to claim 4, the combination of DESTEFANIS and MURUGESAN teaches wherein the accessory device comprises a third public key and a third private key corresponding to the third public key, the controlling device comprises a fourth public key and a fourth private key corresponding to the fourth public key, and the negotiating, by the controlling device, the second credential with the accessory device based on the shared key comprises: exchanging, by the controlling device, a public key with the accessory device based on the shared key to obtain the third public key; and storing, by the controlling device, the second credential, wherein the second credential stored in the controlling device comprises the third public key, the fourth public key, and the fourth private key, and the second credential stored in the accessory device comprises the third public key, the third private key, and the fourth public key (DESTEFANIS Pa. [0061]) [Confirming the validity of the credentials of the two nodes may be based on each node generating a key using a bilinear pairing operation and ensuring that the keys match.]
As to claim 5, the combination of DESTEFANIS and MURUGESAN teaches wherein the second credential sent to the authorized device comprises: the fourth public key; or the fourth public key, the third public key, and the fourth public key (DESTEFANIS Pa. [0088]) [validate/authenticate each others' credentials, and communications between the two nodes are either not encrypted or are encrypted using the nodes' usual public-private key pairs.]
As to claim 6, the combination of DESTEFANIS and MURUGESAN teaches wherein the second credential sent to the authorized device comprises the third public key and the fourth public key, and the method further comprises: receiving, by the controlling device, a signature request from the authorized device, wherein the signature request carries a fifth public key, and the fifth public key is a public key of the authorized device; signing, by the controlling device, the fifth public key by using the fourth private key to obtain a digital signature; and sending, by the controlling device, the digital signature to the authorized device, wherein the digital signature is used by the accessory device to perform authentication on the authorized device (DESTEFANIS Pa. [0088]) [validate/authenticate each others' credentials, and communications between the two nodes are either not encrypted or are encrypted using the nodes' usual public-private key pairs.]
As to claim 9, claim 9 recites the claimed that contain respectively similar limitations as claim 5; therefore, it is rejected under the same rationale.
As to claim 16 claim 16 recites the claimed that contain respectively similar limitations as claim 2; therefore, it is rejected under the same rationale.
As to claim 17 claim 17 recites the claimed that contain respectively similar limitations as claim 3; therefore, it is rejected under the same rationale.
As to claim 18 claim 18 recites the claimed that contain respectively similar limitations as claim 4; therefore, it is rejected under the same rationale.
As to claim 19 claim 19 recites the claimed that contain respectively similar limitations as claim 5; therefore, it is rejected under the same rationale.
As to claim 20 claim 20 recites the claimed that contain respectively similar limitations as claim 6; therefore, it is rejected under the same rationale.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 10-14 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Raisons for Allowable Subject Matter
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: The closest prior art of record (DESTEFANIS U.S. Patent No. 20200186335 A1 which describes “blockchain transactions and more particularly to methods and devices to establish trusted peer-to-peer communications between nodes” and MURUGESAN Publication 20220322081 A1 that discloses “securing Wi-Fi hotspot network, more particularly, but not exclusively, to a method and an Access Point (AP) device for creating a closed Wi-Fi hotspot network, and a method and a station device for connecting to a closed Wi-Fi hotspot network. Both prior arts along or in combination do not teach, or suggest the claimed limitations of (in combination with all other features in the claim), “wherein the first information is a first character string, the verification information is a first digital signature, and the first digital signature is a signature that is of the first character string and that is obtained by using the fourth private key, and wherein the verifying, by the accessory device, the verification information based on the second credential stored in the accessory device comprises: decrypting, by the accessory device, the first digital signature by using the third public key stored in the accessory device to obtain a first digest value; and calculating, by the accessory device, a second digest value that is a digest value of the first character string, wherein: if the second digest value is the same as first digest value, the verification succeeds; or if the second digest value is different from first digest value, the verification fails”, as claimed in claim 10, in conjunction with remaining claims provisions.
Claims 11-14 are allowable over the prior art made of record, because they are recited the claimed that contain similar limitations as claim 10.
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. These include.
US 20160072823 A1 – Faccin describes wireless communication, and more specifically, but not exclusively, to the use of multiple credentials for traffic differentiation.
Conclusion
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/EVANS DESROSIERS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2491
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