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
Response to Amendment
This is a reply to the application filed on 6/24/2026, in which, claim(s) 1-3 and 5-9 is/are pending.
Claim(s) 4 is/are cancelled.
Response to Arguments
Drawing Objection:
Applicant’s remarks with respect to the drawing filed on 6/24/2026 have been approved by The Examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 U.S.C. § 112:
Applicants’ arguments with respect to 112 2nd paragraph with rejection of claim(s) 1-9 have been fully considered and are persuasive. The rejection of 112 2nd paragraph have been withdrawn in view of the amendment to claim.
Claim Rejections - 35 U.S.C. § 101:
Applicants’ arguments with respect to claim(s) 9 have been fully considered and are persuasive. The rejection of 35 USC §101 have been withdrawn in view of the amendment to claim.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claims 1-3 and 5-9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
in an encryption phase, using, by a participant Pₐ and a participant Pb, a hash function generated by a third party Pc and respective public keys to perform encryption, to generate respective ciphertexts, and sending the respective ciphertexts to a blockchain;
in an identity verification phase, using, by the participant Pa and the participant Pb, the blockchain to verify identities of the participant Pa and the participant Pb before private intersection is performed, to determine whether the private intersection can be performed;
in a secret sharing phase, sharing, by the participant Pₐ and the participant Pb, subsets of respective private sets among three parties the participant Pa, the participant Pb, and the third party Pc after it is determined that the private intersection can be performed;
in a first ranking phase, obtaining subvectors the participant Pₐ, the participant Pb, and the third party Pc after sharing, and then ranking subvectors of the participant Pₐ and the participant Pb;
in a token vector generation phase, jointly calculating, by the participant Pa, the participant Pb, and the third party Pc, a secret sharing vector of one token vector, and then in a secondary ranking phase, performing secondary ranking on ranked subvectors of the participant Pₐ and the participant Pb according to the secret sharing vector, to obtain a ranked subsecret combination vector; and
in an intersection phase, recovering, by the participant Pₐ and the participant Pb, respective subsecret combination vectors by invoking a Reveal algorithm, to obtain an intersection set R.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claims 1-3 and 5-9 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, first paragraph, as based on a disclosure which is not enabling. The disclosure does not enable one of ordinary skill in the art to practice the invention without “in an encryption phase, using, by a participant Pₐ and a participant Pb… in an identity verification phase, using, by the participant Pa and the participant Pb, the blockchain to verify identities of the participant Pa and the participant Pb… in a secret sharing phase, sharing, by the participant Pₐ and the participant Pb, subsets of respective private sets among three parties the participant Pa, the participant Pb, and the third party Pc… in a first ranking phase, obtaining subvectors the participant Pₐ, the participant Pb, and the third party Pc… in a token vector generation phase, jointly calculating, by the participant Pa, the participant Pb, and the third party Pc… in an intersection phase, recovering, by the participant Pₐ and the participant Pb…, which is/are critical or essential to the practice of the invention but not included in the claim(s). See In re Mayhew, 527 F.2d 1229, 188 USPQ 356 (CCPA 1976). These elements are not disclosed properly in the specification. Especially when paragraphs [0007]-[0012], [0034]-[0042] and [0061]-[0065] disclosed different features and are not the same and the amendment figure 1 into paragraph [0061]-[0065] introduced new matters and is not accepted.
Internet Communications
Applicant is encouraged to submit a written authorization for Internet communications (PTO/SB/439, http:ljwww.uspto.gov/sites/default/files/documents/sb0439.pdf) in the instant patent application to authorize the examiner to communicate with the applicant via email. The authorization will allow the examiner to better practice compact prosecution. The written authorization can be submitted via one of the following methods only: (1) Central Fax which can be found in the Conclusion section of this Office action; (2) regular postal mail; (3) EFS WEB; or (4) the service window on the Alexandria campus. EFS web is the recommended way to submit the form since this allows the form to be entered into the file wrapper within the same day (system dependent). Written authorization submitted via other methods, such as direct fax to the examiner or email, will not be accepted. See MPEP § 502.03.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Nicolas et al. (US 20220078023 A1) discloses a computing calculations based on two overlapping private sets between various parties. To conduct the calculation, an intersection of the overlapping private sets data lists is conducted without revealing the underlying data. A homomorphic encryption is conducted on the intersecting data elements to allow them to be compared.
Pasternack (US 20240061847 A1) discloses technologies include generating an approximation of an intersection of attribute sets using set vectors and an inner product of the set vectors. A set of feature values is generated using the approximation. A machine learning model is trained using the set of feature values.
Liu (US 20230262126 A1) discloses a blockchain-based data processing method includes: starting to select a second consensus node set corresponding to a second consensus period when a height of a block generated in a first consensus period meets a consensus node set switching condition, and determining a height of a block generated when selecting the second consensus node set, as a first block height; generating a first block by adding set information corresponding to the second consensus node set to a block corresponding to the first block height, and broadcasting the first block in a blockchain network; acquiring a private key segment generation notification generated and transmitted by a consensus node in the second consensus node set, the private key segment generation notification carrying a notification signature; and determining a consensus permission of the consensus node in the second consensus node set for the second consensus period according to the notification signature.
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any extension fee pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DAO Q HO whose telephone number is (571)270-5998. The examiner can normally be reached on 7:00am - 5:00pm.
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/DAO Q HO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2432
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