DETAILED ACTION
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 .
The application of Zhao et al. for a “vehicle security authentication method” filed on January 17, 2025 has been examined.
This application claims foreign priority based on the application CN202211038023.2, filed on August 26, 2022 in China. Receipt is acknowledged of papers submitted under 35 U.S.C 119(a) – (d), which papers have been placed of record in the file.
This application claims priority to a 371 of PCT/CN2023/114924, which is filed on August 25, 2023.
A preliminary amendment to the claims 18 and 19 has been entered and made of record.
Claims 21-28 are canceled.
Claims 1-20 are pending.
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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.
Claims 1, 18 and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Yang et al. (US# 12,273,721).
Referring to claim 1, Yang et al. disclose a vehicle security authentication method (column 1 line 40 to column 2 line 44; see Figures 1 to 6), a vehicle corresponding to at least one digital vehicle key, the at least one digital vehicle key being provided on at least one mobile terminal (column 5 lines 65 to column 6 line 65; see Figure 1), the vehicle security authentication method comprising:
receiving a connection request from the at least one mobile terminal (i.e. If the mobile terminal and the vehicle Bluetooth module are connected for the first time, then it is necessary to manually operate the Bluetooth key of the mobile terminal to complete the Bluetooth connection and pairing operation between the mobile terminal and the vehicle Bluetooth module. When the connection and pairing is successful, the mobile terminal and the vehicle Bluetooth module will record their pairing status respectively. The next time the mobile terminal and the vehicle Bluetooth module are close to each other to a certain range and the both Bluetooth switches are turned on, the Bluetooth connection operation will be completed automatically) (column 6 lines 8 to 25; column 7 lines 22 to 36; see Figures 1 and 2);
obtaining authentication information of the at least one digital vehicle key on the at least one mobile terminal (i.e. each digital key in the key whitelist is associated with and matched with the device information of a mobile terminal. In particular, the device information can be the MAC address of the mobile terminal and other information that can identify the mobile terminal. It can be understood that when the vehicle terminal does not have any matching digital keys, there is no key whitelist. Step S122, if there is a key whitelist, the vehicle Bluetooth module obtains the device information of the currently connected mobile terminal, and determines whether there is a digital key matching the device information in the key whitelist; In particular, when it is determined that there is a key whitelist at the vehicle side, it is further necessary to determine whether there is a digital key matching the device information in the key whitelist. It can be understood that the digital key that can be matched here can be considered to have been used at least once, the security is high, but the verification of the digital key is also required) (column 7 line 37 to 49; see Figures 1 and 2); and
performing an operation corresponding to the at least one digital vehicle key when the authentication information of the at least one digital vehicle key satisfies a security authentication condition (i.e. if there is a digital key matching the device information in the key whitelist (i.e. a first authentication condition), the vehicle Bluetooth module verifies the digital key according to a preset verification rule, and determines whether the security authentication is passed according to the verification result) (column 7 lines 50 to 54; see Figures 1 and 2),
wherein the security authentication condition comprises a first authentication condition and a second authentication condition (i.e. if there is a digital key matching the device information in the key whitelist, the vehicle Bluetooth module verifies the digital key according to a preset verification rule, and determines whether the security authentication is passed according to the verification result. In particular, in the step, the digital key obtained by the search is verified according to the preset verification rules, and the verification content includes but is not limited to the valid time and authority of the digital key (i.e. a second authentication condition). It can be understood that the verification of the digital key is to verify the correctness of the key data, and the verification method can be specifically limited according to the actual security requirements) (column 7 lines 50 to 62; see Figures 1 and 2).
Referring to claims 18-19, Yang et al. disclose a vehicle and a mobile terminal, although different in scope from the claim 1, the claims 18-19 contains similar limitations in that the claim 1 already addressed above therefore claims 18-19 are also rejected for the same reasons given with respect to claim 1.
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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 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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 2, 3, 5, 6, 12 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yang et al. (US# 12,273,721) as applied to claim 1 and in view of Qiao (US# 11,485,320).
Referring to claim 2, Yang et al. disclose the method according to claim 1, however, Yang et al. did not explicitly disclose wherein performing an operation corresponding to the at least one digital vehicle key when the authentication information of the at least one digital vehicle key satisfies a security authentication condition, comprises: performing an operation corresponding to the at least one digital vehicle key when the authentication information of the at least one digital vehicle key satisfies the first authentication condition and the second authentication condition.
In the same field of endeavor of an access control system, Qiao teaches that wherein performing an operation corresponding to the at least one digital vehicle key when the authentication information of the at least one digital vehicle key satisfies a security authentication condition, comprises: performing an operation corresponding to the at least one digital vehicle key when the authentication information of the at least one digital vehicle key satisfies the first authentication condition and the second authentication condition (i.e. a method for vehicle function control. The BLE technology is configured for ranging, and when the BLE ranging result meets a preset condition, the vehicle is controlled to unlock the door lock) (column 3 lines 56 to 63; column 4 lines 3 to 9; see Figures 1 to 3) in order to provide efficiency in power consumption of the vehicle and the mobile phone.
At the time of the effective filing date of the current application, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to recognize the need for a method of having the vehicle unlock the door lock when the Bluetooth ranging result meets the preset condition taught by Qiao in the securely connecting vehicle and the Bluetooth key when the authentication result indicates that the authentication passed and the preset verification rule is also passed of Yang et al. because having the vehicle unlock the door lock when the Bluetooth ranging result meets the preset condition would increase efficiency of operating an anti-theft device in a vehicle operation control system.
Referring to claim 3, Yang et al. in view of Qiao disclose the method according to claim 2, Qiao discloses wherein the second authentication condition comprises authentication information of at least two digital vehicle keys satisfying the first authentication condition (i.e. when the terminal obtains a digital vehicle key sharing instruction, a security authentication code of the digital vehicle key for the vehicle may be generated and shared to other terminals. For example, the user may operate to trigger a digital vehicle key sharing instruction, the terminal may generate and share a security authentication code of the digital vehicle key to other terminals, and other terminals may perform the function control on the vehicle through the security authentication code of the digital vehicle key (i.e. the first authentication condition). The security authentication code of the digital vehicle key may be an information code with a vehicle public key and a vehicle function control permission).
Referring to claim 5, Yang et al. in view of Qiao disclose the method according to claim 3, Qiao discloses wherein a trajectory of mobile terminals corresponding to the at least one digital vehicle key satisfying a second predetermined condition comprises:
for each of mobile terminals corresponding to the at least one digital vehicle key, a position of the mobile terminal relative to one of the plurality of communication nodes satisfying a predetermined position condition (i.e. a ranging signal may be further sent to the terminal at a plurality of point positions of the vehicle, a plurality of AoAs are determined by receiving the ranging signal fed back by the terminal at the point positions, and a position relationship between the terminal and the vehicle is determined based on the plurality of AoAs, thereby determining the distance between the terminal and the vehicle) (column 5 lines 43 to 50).
Referring to claim 6, Yang et al. in view of Qiao disclose the method according to claim 5, Qiao discloses wherein the position of the mobile terminal relative to one of the plurality of communication nodes comprises one or more of a distance and an angle of the mobile terminal relative to one of the plurality of communication nodes;
wherein the position of the mobile terminal relative to one of the plurality of communication nodes is determined by: in the case that the communication node is a BLE node, determining signal strength of each BLE node of the plurality of communication nodes with respect to the mobile terminal, and obtaining the position through the BLE node having the maximum signal strength with respect to the mobile terminal (i.e. a ranging is performed between the terminal (in which the digital vehicle key has been created and activated) and the vehicle based on the BLE technology, and the corresponding function control is implemented. In the present disclosure, a BLE ranging is performed, which may be performed based on one or a combination of a received signal strength indication (RSSI), an angle-of-arrival (AoA) and an angle-of-departure (AoD) and a hybrid analog and digital modulation (HADM), so as to determine a distance between the terminal and the vehicle. For example, the RSSI of the terminal received by the vehicle is detected through the BLE, and the distance between the terminal and the vehicle may be judged based on the RSSI) (column 5 lines 30 to 61).
Referring to claim 12, Yang et al. in view of Qiao disclose the method according to claim 2, Qiao discloses wherein performing an operation corresponding to the at least one digital vehicle key when the authentication information of the at least one digital vehicle key satisfies a security authentication condition, further comprises:
determining current state of the at least one digital vehicle key based on the authentication information of the at least one digital vehicle key when the authentication information of the at least one digital vehicle key satisfies the first authentication condition (i.e. a method for vehicle function control. The BLE technology is configured for ranging, and when the BLE ranging result meets a preset condition, the vehicle is controlled to unlock the door lock. The vehicle function control is achieved by the method without installing additional UWBs, which reduces hardware cost and power consumption of the vehicle and the mobile phone) (column 3 lines 56 to 64; column 4 lines 8 to 32; see Figures 1 to 3); and
determining whether the authentication information of the at least one digital vehicle key satisfies the second authentication condition when the current state of the at least one digital vehicle key is determined to be a predetermined abnormal state (i.e. When other terminals obtain the security authentication code of the digital vehicle key of the vehicle within a validity period, the terminal may perform the function control on the vehicle. When the security authentication code of the digital vehicle key expires, the digital vehicle key is suspended and/or deleted) (column 5 lines 9 to 29; column 7 lines 25 to 37).
Referring to claim 20, Yang et al. disclose a system, the claim 20 differ from claim 1 is that the claims require the additional limitations of claim 2 already addressed above and Qiao discloses all limitations to the extent as claimed with respect to claim 2 above and therefore claim 20 is also rejected as being obvious for the same obvious reasons given with respect to claim 2.
Claim 8 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yang et al. (US# 12,273,721) in view of Qiao (US# 11,485,320) as applied to claim 3 and further in view of Kocher et al. (US# 10,810,816).
Referring to claim 8, Yang et al. in view of Qiao disclose the method according to claim 3, Qiao discloses wherein the identity information verification comprises at least one of biometric verification and non-biometric verification for a mobile terminal;
the non-biometric verification is associated with physical operation verification of the mobile terminal, the physical operation verification comprising authentication password information verification (i.e. a server of the vehicle manufacturer receives a pairing request, and sends the generated pairing password to the mobile phone and the vehicle. A secure channel between a mobile phone and a vehicle is established based on the pairing password) (column 3 lines 20 to 31; column 4 lines 41 to 53; column 7 lines 54 to 64).
However, Yang et al. in view of Qiao did not explicitly disclose wherein the biometric verification is associated with one or more of a facial feature, a fingerprint feature, a breathing feature, or a heartbeat feature of the mobile terminal.
In the same field of endeavor of an access control system, Kocher et al. teach that the biometric verification is associated with one or more of a facial feature, a fingerprint feature, a breathing feature, or a heartbeat feature of the mobile terminal (i.e. the operation of an exemplary embodiment is to enroll and set up the smart phone app. Assuming network connectivity, the user enters their identity in the form of a Unique ID Number, presses a button to take a face photo or other biometric) (column 5 lines 43 to 47; column 6 lines 50 to 63) in order to avoid forgery to access into the security facility.
At the time of the effective filing date of the current application, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to recognize the need for the system to obtain facial as the biometric identification to analyzes for authorization taught by Kocher et al. in the securely connecting vehicle and the Bluetooth key when the authentication result indicates that the authentication passed and the preset verification rule is also passed of Yang et al. in view of Qiao because having the system to obtain facial as the biometric identification to analyzes for authorization would provide additional factor for authorization to access the vehicle control system.
Claims 9-11 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yang et al. (US# 12,273,721) in view of Qiao (US# 11,485,320) as applied to claims 2 and 3 and further in view of Hatton (US# 9,002,536).
Referring to claim 9, Yang et al. in view of Qiao disclose the method according to claim 3, however, Yang et al. in view of Qiao did not explicitly disclose wherein the specific operation comprises performing a predetermined action by an operable component of the mobile terminal.
In the same field of endeavor of a vehicle access control system, Hatton teaches that the specific operation comprises performing a predetermined action by an operable component of the mobile terminal (i.e. a storage portion 404 in the mobile device 402 may store inherent ID information for communicating with the vehicle system including the vehicle security codes. The mobile device may include, but not limited to, a display portion 414 having a liquid crystal display device with touch screen technology, and an audio processing portion including a speaker and a microphone 408. The storage portion 404 of the handheld device may also contain the primary or secondary key identification/assignment for that device. The primary or secondary key assignment may be accomplished by typing in a pin using the display portion 414 of the handheld device) (column 16 lines 11 to 56; see Figure 4) in order to control functions of the vehicle using the display portion.
At the time of the effective filing date of the current application, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to recognize the need for controlling vehicle functions on the display portion of the mobile device with the predetermine function taught by Hatton in the securely connecting vehicle and the Bluetooth key when the authentication result indicates that the authentication passed and the preset verification rule is also passed of Yang et al. in view of Qiao because controlling vehicle functions on the display portion of the mobile device with the predetermine function would provide a convenient way to control the operation of the vehicle control system.
Referring to claim 10, Yang et al. in view of Qiao and Hatton disclose the method according to claim 9, Hatton discloses wherein the operable component comprises a foldable screen, a flexible screen, or a scroll screen (i.e. the mobile device may present vehicle control functions on the display portion 414, as you would normally see on a vehicle key, including unlock, lock, truck open, and/or an alarm. Other features may be implemented since the vehicle control functions not limited to space restraints as it would be when designing these function on a traditional vehicle key. Other features may include, but is not limited to, rolling the windows down, opening the fuel cap door, and/or starting the vehicle) (column 16 lines 48 to 56; see Figure 4).
Referring to claim 11, Yang et al. in view of Qiao disclose the method according to claim 2, Hatton discloses wherein performing an operation corresponding to the at least one digital vehicle key when the authentication information of the at least one digital vehicle key satisfies a security authentication condition, comprises:
determining a second authentication condition for the at least one digital vehicle key based on the authentication information of the at least one digital vehicle key;
wherein determining the second authentication condition for the at least one digital vehicle key based on the authentication information of the at least one digital vehicle key is performed by a pre-trained security authentication model, the security authentication model selecting the second authentication condition for the at least one digital vehicle key based on the authentication information of the at least one digital vehicle key (i.e. a mobile device to be programmed to control functional operations as a key fob. In general, the key fob may be designed to allow for transmission of security codes using a secured method of wireless communication including, but not limited to, near field communication. The embodiments of the present invention provide a system and method allowing a key fob the ability to transmit security codes to a mobile device, therefore using the mobile device in place of the key fob to communicate with the vehicle computing system) (column 5 lines 25 to 65; see Figure 2A-2B).
Claim 14 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yang et al. (US# 12,273,721) in view of Qiao (US# 11,485,320) as applied to claim 2 and further in view of Ehrman et al. (US# 7,656,271).
Referring to claim 14, Yang et al. in view of Qiao disclose the method according to claim 2, however, Yang et al. in view of Qiao did not explicitly disclose wherein the method further comprises: synchronizing the second authentication condition from a vehicle server of the vehicle, the second authentication condition being set at the vehicle server by a mobile terminal.
In the same field of endeavor of a vehicle access asset control system, Ehrman et al. teaches that wherein the method further comprises: synchronizing the second authentication condition from a vehicle server of the vehicle, the second authentication condition being set at the vehicle server by a mobile terminal (i.e. to enable synchronization of the downlink and uplink between the central computing system, wireless infrastructure, and asset communicators, transaction codes may be applied to individual datasets or data records. By applying transaction codes that are temporal (i.e., based on time of creation), the synchronization process may be maintained even if a communication failure occurs during synchronization of the data by determining the transaction codes that exist in the different locations, and continuing synchronizing therefrom. On the downlink communication, the transaction code is used to indicate the most up-to-date data. On the uplink communication, the transaction code is used to create a unique key for ensuring the integrity of data such that the order and uniqueness of each dataset is maintained) (column 7 lines 25 to 38; see Figure 1).
At the time of the effective filing date of the current application, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to recognize the need for to enable synchronization of the downlink and uplink between the central computing system taught by Ehrman et al. in the securely connecting vehicle and the Bluetooth key when the authentication result indicates that the authentication passed and the preset verification rule is also passed of Yang et al. in view of Qiao because synchronization of the downlink and uplink between the central computing system would provide a convenient way to provide up to date authorization information of the vehicle control system.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 4, 7, 13 and 15-17 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.
Referring to claim 4, the following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: the prior art fail to suggest limitations wherein the vehicle comprises a plurality of communication nodes, the plurality of communication nodes comprising one or more of a Bluetooth BLE node, a near field communication NFC node, and an ultra-wideband UWB node;
the relative position is determined through the plurality of communication nodes, wherein the relative position between the mobile terminals corresponding to the at least two digital vehicle keys comprises one or more of a distance and an angle between the mobile terminals corresponding to the at least two digital vehicle keys;
the first predetermined condition comprises one or more of:
the distance between the mobile terminals corresponding to the at least two digital vehicle keys satisfies a predetermined distance condition; or
the angle between the mobile terminals corresponding to the at least two digital vehicle keys satisfies a predetermined angle condition.
Referring to claim 7, the following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: the prior art fail to suggest limitations wherein the predetermined trajectory condition is that the mobile terminal passes through a coverage arca of the at least two communication nodes following a predetermined trajectory, the predetermined trajectory comprising at least one of a predetermined order of passing through the coverage area of the at least two communication nodes and a predetermined angle of entering the coverage area of the at least two communication nodes.
Referring to claim 13, the following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: the prior art fail to suggest limitations wherein the predetermined abnormal state comprises at least one of:
a distance between mobile terminals corresponding to at least two digital vehicle keys being less than a predetermined threshold;
a trajectory of mobile terminals corresponding to the at least one digital vehicle key satisfying a predetermined abnormal trajectory condition;
a speed of mobile terminals corresponding to the at least one digital vehicle key satisfying a predetermined abnormal speed condition; or
a physiological feature of a user of mobile terminals corresponding to the at least one digital vehicle key satisfying a predetermined abnormal physiological condition.
Referring to claim 15, the following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: the prior art fail to suggest limitations wherein performing an operation corresponding to the at least one digital vehicle key when the authentication information of the at least one digital vehicle key satisfies the first authentication condition and the second authentication condition, further comprises:
determining whether the authentication information of the at least one digital vehicle key satisfies the first authentication condition;
wherein determining whether the authentication information of the at least one digital vehicle key satisfies the first authentication condition comprises:
establishing a Bluetooth communication connection between the at least one mobile terminal and the vehicle;
notifying, by the vehicle, the at least one mobile terminal of the successful establishment of Bluetooth communication connection and normal state of use of the at least one digital vehicle key;
performing, by the vehicle, quick authentication with the at least one mobile terminal;
in response to a failure of quick authentication, performing, by the vehicle, standard authentication with the at least one mobile terminal;
in response to a failure of standard authentication and a reason for the error being that the identifier of the at least one digital vehicle key is unknown, obtaining, by the vehicle, friend key authentication information from the at least one mobile terminal and verifying a signature of the friend key authentication information with an owner digital vehicle key public key of the vehicle, and
in response to verification of the signature passing, saving, by the vehicle, a public key of at least one digital vehicle key in the friend key authentication information and verifying the signature transmitted by the at least one mobile terminal with the public key of the at least one digital vehicle key;
in response to a failure of standard authentication and a reason for the error being not that the identifier of the at least one digital vehicle key is unknown, determining an authentication failure between the at least one mobile terminal and the vehicle and determining that the authentication information of the at least one digital vehicle key does not satisfy the first authentication condition; and
in response to a success of quick authentication or a success of standard authentication or verification of the signature of the at least one mobile terminal passing, establishing a security information channel between the vehicle and the at least one mobile terminal and obtaining traffic data of the at least one digital vehicle key, and determining that the authentication information of the at least one digital vehicle key satisfies the first authentication condition.
Claims 16 and 17 depend directly upon dependent claim 15; therefore, these claim is also allowed by virtue of their dependencies.
Any comments considered necessary by applicant must be submitted no later than the payment of the issue fee and, to avoid processing delays, should preferably accompany the issue fee. Such submissions should be clearly labeled “Comments on Statement of Reasons for Allowance.”
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Refer to the enclosed PTO-892 for details.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to NAM V NGUYEN whose telephone number is 571-272-3061. Fax number is (571) 273-3061. The examiner can normally be reached on 8:00AM-5:00PM Monday to Friday.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Quan-Zhen Wang can be reached on 571-272-3114. The fax phone numbers for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned are 571-273-8300 for regular communications.
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/NAM V NGUYEN/
Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2685
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