Prosecution Insights
Last updated: October 01, 2026
Application No. 18/981,528

IMAGE CLASSIFICATION OF COMMUNICATION CHANNEL FOR IDENTIFYING SENDER

Non-Final OA §103
Filed
Dec 14, 2024
Priority
Dec 14, 2023 — provisional 63/610,403
Examiner
ANDERSON, MICHAEL D
Art Unit
2433
Tech Center
2400 — Computer Networks
Assignee
The Regents of the University of Michigan
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
80%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
1y 6m
Est. Remaining
95%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 80% — above average
80%
Career Allowance Rate
574 granted / 717 resolved
+22.1% vs TC avg
Strong +15% interview lift
Without
With
+15.1%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
3y 3m
Avg Prosecution
17 currently pending
Career history
740
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
7.1%
-32.9% vs TC avg
§103
60.6%
+20.6% vs TC avg
§102
21.5%
-18.5% vs TC avg
§112
6.9%
-33.1% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 717 resolved cases

Office Action

§103
CTNF 18/981,528 CTNF 86599 DETAILED ACTION Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status 07-03-aia AIA 15-10-aia 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 § 103 07-20-aia AIA 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. 07-21-aia AIA Claim s 1-3, 6-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Pub.No.: US 2002/0118831 A1 to Rhoads in view of Pub.No.: US 2010/0008424 A1 to Pace . Regarding claim 1 , Rhoads discloses “a method of determining an identity of a sender of a message, comprising: obtaining distortion data of a data transmission signal sent by a sender over a physical channel through sampling the data transmission signal” (shows how a signature signal can be preprocessed to increase its robustness in View of anticipated distortion [par.0043] also see Fig.15) , “wherein the distortion data represents extracted attributes of the data transmission signal as observed over the physical channel” (the Signal to noise ratio of matching should begin to become difficult only when the copy material itself has been significantly altered either by noise or by significant distortion [par.0119]) . Rhoads does not explicitly disclose “generating distortion image data that represents the distortion data as an image; and identifying a sender of the data transmission signal based on an output generated by a classifier that takes the distortion image data as input.” Pace in an analogous art discloses “generating distortion image data that represents the distortion data as an image” (generate contour Mesh Pace[Fig.7/item 722], One embodiment of this process employs a combination of spatial filters specifically designed to generate a response signal whose strength is relative to the detected saliency of an object in the video frame Pace[par.0062]) ; “and identifying a sender of the data transmission signal based on an output generated by a classifier that takes the distortion image data as input.” (a representation of processed data in storage or to initiate transmission of data to a remote site Pace [par.0006]). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to modify Rhoads distortion in a signal with Pace’s processing of image distortion in order to provide additional security. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to combine because Rhoad’s discloses a distortion in a signal, Pace teaches a processing of image distortion, and both are from the same field of endeavor. Regarding claim 2 in view of claim 1, the references combined disclose “wherein the image is a two-dimensional image represented by a matrix of data values each representing a pixel of the image” (The preferred means of generating an appearance variance model is through the assembly of frames of video as pattern Vectors into a training matrix, or ensemble, and application of Principal Component Analysis (PCA) on the training matrix Pace[par.0138]). Regarding claim 3 in view of claim 1, the references combined disclose “wherein the image is a recurrence plot generated based on the distortion data” (if the resultant values are plotted on a histogram, the existence of the N-bit identification signal will exhibit Strong bi-level characteristics, whereas the nonexistence of the code, or the existence of a different code of a different original, will exhibit a type of random gaussian like distribution Rhoads[par.0089]). Regarding claim 6 in view of claim 1, the references combined disclose “wherein the classifier is or includes a convolutional neural network (CNN) that performs convolution operations on the image. (neural network decoders Rhoads[par.0342-0343]). Regarding claim 7 in view of claim 1, the references combined disclose “wherein the classifier is trained using noisy image training data, and wherein the noisy image training data includes one or more noisy images” (estimate rough offset and RMS noise Rhoads[Fig.2/item]). Regarding claim 8 in view of claim 7, the references combined disclose “wherein each noisy image of the one or more noisy images is generated by introducing noise into the distortion data to obtain noisy distortion data and then generating the noisy image through transforming the noisy distortion data into an image” (estimate rough offset and RMS noise Rhoads[Fig.2/item]). Regarding claim 9 in view of claim 8, the references combined disclose “wherein transforming the distortion data into an image is performed by generating a recurrence plot based on the noisy distortion data” (matched filter operation simply adds the resultant multiplied values of the Scaled frequencies and their plot counterparts Rhoads [par.0487]). Regarding claim 10 in view of claim 1, the references combined disclose “wherein the distortion data represents a difference between observed measurements in the data transmission signal and expected values” (matched filter operation simply adds the resultant multiplied values of the Scaled frequencies and their plot counterparts Rhoads [par.0487]). Regarding claim 11 in view of claim 1, the references combined disclose “wherein the extracted attributes of the data transmission signal are used for generating the distortion image data.” (generate contour Mesh Pace[Fig.7/item 722], One embodiment of this process employs a combination of spatial filters specifically designed to generate a response signal whose strength is relative to the detected saliency of an object in the video frame Pace[par.0062]) 07-21-aia AIA Claim s 4-5, and 12-17 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Pub.No.: US 2002/0118831 A1 to Rhoads in view of Pub.No.: US 2010/0008424 A1 to Pace, in further view of Pub.No.: US 2023/00581184 A1 to SHIRAISHI(hereafter referenced as Shiraishi) . Regarding claim 4 in view of claim 3, neither Rhoads nor Pace explicitly disclose “wherein the distortion data is voltage time-series data” However, Shiraishi in an analogous art discloses “wherein the distortion data is voltage time-series data” (correlated double sampling (CDS) may remove the undesired offset value of pixels by comparing pixel output voltages obtained before and after photo charges generated by incident light are accumulated in the sensing node so that only pixel output voltages based on the incident light can be measured Shiraishi[par.0040]). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to modify Rhoads distortion in a signal and Pace’s processing of image distortion with Shiraishi’s Image device which compares pixel output voltage in order to provide additional security. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to combine because Rhoad’s discloses a distortion in a signal, Pace teaches a processing of image distortion, Shiraishi discloses an image device which compares pixel output voltage and all are from the same field of endeavor Regarding claim 5 in view of claim 4, the references combined disclose “wherein the recurrence plot is generated by: comparing a recurrence threshold to a difference between a first voltage time-series data value and a second voltage time-series data value; and determining a pixel value of the recurrence plot based on whether the difference exceeded the recurrence threshold” (correlated double sampling (CDS) may remove the undesired offset value of pixels by comparing pixel output voltages obtained before and after photo charges generated by incident light are accumulated in the sensing node so that only pixel output voltages based on the incident light can be measured Shiraishi[par.0040]). Regarding claim 12 in view of claim 11, Neither Roads nor Pace explicitly disclose “wherein the distortion image data includes at least one pixel value determined by: determining a voltage value for the data transmission signal, and comparing the voltage value for the data transmission signal to a target voltage” However, Shiraishi in an analogous art discloses “wherein the distortion image data includes at least one pixel value determined by: determining a voltage value for the data transmission signal, and comparing the voltage value for the data transmission signal to a target voltage” (correlated double sampling (CDS) may remove the undesired offset value of pixels by comparing pixel output voltages obtained before and after photo charges generated by incident light are accumulated in the sensing node so that only pixel output voltages based on the incident light can be measured Shiraishi[par.0040]). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to modify Rhoads distortion in a signal and Pace’s processing of image distortion with Shiraishi’s Image device which compares pixel output voltage in order to provide additional security. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to combine because Rhoad’s discloses a distortion in a signal, Pace teaches a processing of image distortion, Shiraishi discloses an image device which compares pixel output voltage and all are from the same field of endeavor. Regarding claim 13 in view of claim 12, the references combined disclose “wherein the target voltage is greater than 0.5 Volts and less than or equal to 5 Volts” (correlated double sampling (CDS) may remove the undesired offset value of pixels by comparing pixel output voltages obtained before and after photo charges generated by incident light are accumulated in the sensing node so that only pixel output voltages based on the incident light can be measured Shiraishi[par.0040]). Regarding claim 14 , in view of claim 11, Neither Roads nor Pace explicitly disclose “wherein the data transmission signal is formed as a series of voltage differentials relative to one or more predefined voltage levels, and wherein the target voltage is a voltage of one of the predefined voltage levels” However, Shiraishi in an analogous art discloses “wherein the data transmission signal is formed as a series of voltage differentials relative to one or more predefined voltage levels, and wherein the target voltage is a voltage of one of the predefined voltage levels” (correlated double sampling (CDS) may remove the undesired offset value of pixels by comparing pixel output voltages obtained before and after photo charges generated by incident light are accumulated in the sensing node so that only pixel output voltages based on the incident light can be measured Shiraishi[par.0040]). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to modify Rhoads distortion in a signal and Pace’s processing of image distortion with Shiraishi’s Image device which compares pixel output voltage in order to provide additional security. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to combine because Rhoad’s discloses a distortion in a signal, Pace teaches a processing of image distortion, Shiraishi discloses an image device which compares pixel output voltage and all are from the same field of endeavor. Regarding claim 15 , in view of claim 14, the references combined disclose “wherein each of the one or more predefined voltage levels is associated with a discrete state used for indicating a value of a message being communicated in accordance with the physical channel” (correlated double sampling (CDS) may remove the undesired offset value of pixels by comparing pixel output voltages obtained before and after photo charges generated by incident light are accumulated in the sensing node so that only pixel output voltages based on the incident light can be measured Shiraishi[par.0040]). Regarding claim 16 , in view of claim 15, the references combined disclose “wherein the one or more predefined voltage levels is a plurality of predefined voltage levels, and wherein the target voltage is selected as one of the plurality of predefined voltage levels based on the discrete state” (correlated double sampling (CDS) may remove the undesired offset value of pixels by comparing pixel output voltages obtained before and after photo charges generated by incident light are accumulated in the sensing node so that only pixel output voltages based on the incident light can be measured Shiraishi[par.0040]). Regarding claim 17 , in view of claim 16, the references combined disclose “wherein the discrete state corresponds either to a recessive state indicating a recessive bit as the value of the message being communicated or to a dominant state indicating a dominant bit as the value of the message being communicated” (if the resultant values are plotted on a histogram, the existence of the N-bit identification signal will exhibit Strong bi-level characteristics, whereas the nonexistence of the code, or the existence of a different code of a different original, will exhibit a type of random gaussian like distribution Rhoads[par.0089]) . 07-21-aia AIA Claim 18 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Pub.No.: US 2019/0385057 A1 Litichever et al(hereafter referenced as Litichever) in view of Pub.No.: US 2010/0008424 A1 to Pace. Regarding claim 18 , Litichever discloses “an electronic control unit (ECU) authentication system for authenticating transmission signals carrying data over a communications network (wired communications network [par.0498]) , comprising: a first ECU having at least one processor and memory storing computer instructions (ECU A [Fig.5]) ; a second ECU (ECU B [Fig.5]) ; “a communications network for providing a physical channel for carrying a data transmission signal from the second ECU to the first ECU” (communications network [Fig.12/item 129]) ; wherein the ECU authentication system is configured, as a result of executing the computer instructions using the at least one processor, to: obtain distortion data of a data transmission signal sent by the second ECU over the physical channel of the communications network” (WAP authentication process Litichever[par.0498]) , wherein the distortion data is obtained through sampling the data transmission signal (Parameters that may be measured as part of the “Frequency Analysis” step 154 c include a peak value A1 201 a, a peak value of a first harmonic distortion A2 201 b, and a peak of a spurious signal A3 201 [par.0433]) Litichever does not explicitly disclose “generate distortion image data that represents the distortion data as an image; and identify a sender of the data transmission signal based on an output generated by a classifier that takes the distortion image data as input.” Pace in an analogous art discloses “generate distortion image data that represents the distortion data as an image” (generate contour Mesh Pace[Fig.7/item 722], One embodiment of this process employs a combination of spatial filters specifically designed to generate a response signal whose strength is relative to the detected saliency of an object in the video frame Pace[par.0062]) ; “and identify a sender of the data transmission signal based on an output generated by a classifier that takes the distortion image data as input” (a representation of processed data in storage or to initiate transmission of data to a remote site Pace [par.0006]). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was filed to modify Litichever’s ECECUswith Pace’s processing of image distortion in order to provide additional security. One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to combine because Litichever discloses multiple ECU’s which comprise an analyzer for monitoring a configuration of a wired network medium used for communication between multiple devices, Pace teaches a processing of image distortion, and both are from the same field of endeavor. Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MICHAEL D ANDERSON whose telephone number is (571)270-5159. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 9am-6pm. Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Jeffrey Pwu can be reached at (571) 272-6798. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /MICHAEL D ANDERSON/Examiner, Art Unit 2433 /JEFFREY C PWU/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2433 Application/Control Number: 18/981,528 Page 2 Art Unit: 2433 Application/Control Number: 18/981,528 Page 3 Art Unit: 2433 Application/Control Number: 18/981,528 Page 4 Art Unit: 2433 Application/Control Number: 18/981,528 Page 5 Art Unit: 2433 Application/Control Number: 18/981,528 Page 6 Art Unit: 2433 Application/Control Number: 18/981,528 Page 7 Art Unit: 2433 Application/Control Number: 18/981,528 Page 8 Art Unit: 2433 Application/Control Number: 18/981,528 Page 9 Art Unit: 2433 Application/Control Number: 18/981,528 Page 10 Art Unit: 2433 Application/Control Number: 18/981,528 Page 11 Art Unit: 2433 Application/Control Number: 18/981,528 Page 12 Art Unit: 2433
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Prosecution Timeline

Dec 14, 2024
Application Filed
May 05, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §103 (current)

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Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
80%
Grant Probability
95%
With Interview (+15.1%)
3y 3m (~1y 6m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
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