DETAILED ACTION
This non-final office action is in response to claims 1-26 filed April 02, 2025 for examination. Claims 1-10 were canceled and 11-26 are being examined and are pending.
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 .
Preliminary Amendment
Preliminary amendment to the claims, filed 04/02/2025 has been acknowledged.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement filed 12/05/2024 has been placed in the application file and the information referred to therein has been considered as to the merits.
Drawings
The drawings filed on 12/05/2024 have been accepted.
Double Patenting
The non-statutory double patenting rejection is based on a judicially created doctrine grounded in public policy (a policy reflected in the statute) so as to prevent the unjustified or improper timewise extension of the “right to exclude” granted by a patent and to prevent possible harassment by multiple assignees. A non-statutory double patenting rejection is appropriate where the claims at issue are not identical, but at least one examined application claim is not patentably distinct from the reference claim(s) because the examined application claim either is anticipated by, or would have been obvious over, the reference claim. See, e.g., In re Berg, 140 F.3d 1428, 46 USPQ2d 1226 (Fed. Cir. 1998); In re Goodman, 11 F.3d 1046, 29 USPQ2d 2010 (Fed. Cir. 1993); In re Longi, 759 F.2d 887, 225 USPQ 645 (Fed. Cir. 1985); In re Van Ornum, 686 F.2d 937, 214 USPQ 761 (CCPA 1982); In re Vogel, 422 F.2d 438, 164 USPQ 619 (CCPA 1970); and In re Thorington, 418 F.2d 528, 163 USPQ 644 (CCPA 1969).
A timely filed terminal disclaimer in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(c) or 1.321(d) may be used to overcome an actual or provisional rejection based on a non-statutory double patenting ground provided the reference application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with this application, or claims an invention made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement. A terminal disclaimer must be signed in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(b).
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Claims 11-26 are rejected on the ground of non-statutory obviousness-type double patenting rejection as being unpatentable over claims 1-16 of US Patent # 12,192,185 B2 (S/N # 18/423,195).
Although the conflicting claims are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because the referenced US Patent and the instant application are claiming common subject matter, as follows (Since all the claims recited similar limitations, examiner only shows independent claim 1 of instant application and US Patent # 12,192,185 B2 as example in the claim comparison table):
Instant Application (S/N# 18/970,261)
US Patent #12,192,185 (App # 18/423,195)
11. A communication method in a network including a plurality of devices, the communication method comprising: establishing an end-to-end session between a first device and a second device;
encrypting, at the first device, a packet addressed to the second device with a first encryption key associated with the end-to-end session to generate a first encrypted packet; determining whether the second device is within one hop of the first device; when the second device is within one hop of the first device,
transmitting the first encrypted packet from the first device to the second device; and when the second device is not within one hop of the first device,
encrypting, at the first device, the first encrypted packet with a second encryption key associated with a first adjacent node session established with a third device that is within one hop of the first device, to generate a second encrypted packet, and transmitting the second encrypted packet from the first device to the third device.
1. A communication method in a network including a plurality of devices, the communication method comprising: establishing an end-to-end session between a first device and a second device;
encrypting, at the first device, a packet addressed to the second device with a first encryption key associated with the end-to-end session to generate a first encrypted packet; when direct communication between the first device and the second device is possible,
transmitting the first encrypted packet from the first device to the second device; and when the direct communication between the first device and the second device is impossible: establishing, at the first device, a first adjacent node session with a third device,
encrypting the first encrypted packet with a second encryption key associated with the first adjacent node session to generate a second encrypted packet, and transmitting the second encrypted packet from the first device to the third device.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 11-26 would be allowable if rewritten or amended or filed terminal disclaimer to overcome the rejection under non-statutory double patenting rejection, set forth in this Office action.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
Independent claim 11 recites
establishing an end-to-end session between a first device and a second device;
encrypting, at the first device, a packet addressed to the second device with a first encryption key associated with the end-to-end session to generate a first encrypted packet;
determining whether the second device is within one hop of the first device;
when the second device is within one hop of the first device, transmitting the first encrypted packet from the first device to the second device; and
when the second device is not within one hop of the first device, encrypting, at the first device, the first encrypted packet with a second encryption key associated with a first adjacent node session established with a third device that is within one hop of the first device, to generate a second encrypted packet, and
transmitting the second encrypted packet from the first device to the third device.
Other independent claim 19 and 23 recite similar limitations.
Prior art US 20100115272 A1 (Batta et al.) has been found to teach, “[0036] In a conventional mesh network, when a MAP receives a packet, the MAP determines what the next hop MAP is and encrypts the payload/data portion of the packet using an encryption key shared with the next hop MAP, and then transmits the packet to the next hop MAP. For example, when MAP 120A receives a packet from the WLAN enabled client device 110 that is destined for the mesh portal 130 (or alternatively infrastructure coupled to the mesh portal 130), the MAP 120A determines what the next hop MAP is towards the mesh portal 130. The MAP 120A encrypts the payload/data portion of the packet using an encryption key shared with the next hop MAP 120B, and transmits the packet to the next hop MAP 120B. MAP 120B then receives the encrypted packet, determines what the next hop MAP 120C is towards the mesh portal 130, decrypts the packet using an encryption key that it shares with the MAP 120A, and encrypts the payload/data portion of the packet using the encryption key shared with the next hop MAP 120C, and transmits the packet to the next hop MAP 120C. ”
Prior art US 8,225,083 B2 (Ganesan et al.) has been found to teach, “A method of seeding media content in a system, the method comprising: determining a next device to receive data chunks after the data chunks are received by a first device; decrypting the data chunks and re-encrypting the data chunks with a first key that enables the next device to decrypt the data chunks; causing the re-encrypted data chunks to be transmitted to the next device; and causing the next device to propagate the data chunks to a plurality of devices by (i) determining the plurality of devices to receive the data chunks, (ii) decrypting the re-encrypted data chunks, and (iii) for each of the plurality of devices to receive the data chunks, encrypting the data chunks with a second key that corresponds to each of a respective one of the plurality of devices to enable each of the plurality of devices to decrypt the data chunks.” Claim 1.
The prior arts cited on the 892 and/or 1449 forms (IDS) do not fairly teach or suggest the claimed limitations, nor do they render the claimed invention obvious. The prior arts do not provide sufficient motivation to be combined and to be modified in such a way as to render obvious the claimed feature “when the second device is not within one hop of the first device, encrypting, at the first device, the first encrypted packet with a second encryption key associated with a first adjacent node session established with a third device that is within one hop of the first device, to generate a second encrypted packet, and transmitting the second encrypted packet from the first device to the third device.” in combination with “determining whether the second device is within one hop of the first device; when the second device is within one hop of the first device, transmitting the first encrypted packet from the first device to the second device” and other limitations within the context of the claimed invention as a whole without the usage of impermissible hindsight reasoning. Therefore, the examiner found the invention as claimed to be allowable.
Dependent claims 12-18, 20-22, and 24-26 would also be allowable based on their dependency to allowable independent claims.
Conclusion
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/Shawnchoy Rahman/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2438
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