CTNF 19/037,986 CTNF 93457 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. Priority This application is a continuation application, claiming priority under 35 U.S.C. § 365(c), of an International application No. PCT/KR2022/013607, filed on Sep. 13, 2022, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. Information Disclosure Statement The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 01/27/2025 and 08/29/2025 were filed along with and after the mailing date of the Non-Provisional Patent Application on 01/27/2025. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner. DETAILED ACTION This Office Action is in response to a Non-Provisional Patent Application received on 01/27/2025. In the application, claims 1-20 have been received for consideration and have been examined. Specification Applicant’s submitted specification has been reviewed and found to be in compliance. Drawings Applicant’s submitted drawings have been reviewed and found to be in compliance. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101 (Abstract Idea) 07-04-01 AIA 07-04 35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows: Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title. Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to an abstract idea without significantly more analyzed according to MPEP 2106. Step 1: The independent claims 1 , 11, and 20 do fall into one of the four statutory categories of “ a method ”, “ a system ” and “ a non-transitory computer-readable medium ” claims. Nevertheless, the claims still considered as abstract idea ( i.e., combination of Mental process and Mathematical Concepts ) for the following prongs and reasons. Step 2A: Prong 1: Under Step 2A, Prong One of the 2019 Revised Patent Subject Matter Eligibility Guidance, the claims recite an abstract idea in the form of a mathematical concept and alternatively a mental process. Specifically, the claims recite generating caller data by hashing a phone number, encrypting the caller data using a private key, decrypting the caller representative code using a public key, hashing an incoming phone number, and comparing hashed values to identify a sender. Hashing, encryption, decryption, and comparison operations are mathematical calculations and relationships. Further, the claimed identification process can be characterized as the observation, evaluation, and comparison of information for purposes of determining caller identity, which is a mental process capable of being performed conceptually or with pen and paper. The claims additionally recite transmitting information between devices and determining whether a received public key exists in an address book. These limitations amount to the collection, analysis, and comparison of data for authentication purposes, which courts have repeatedly held to be abstract. See, e.g., Electric Power Group, LLC v. Alstom S.A., 830 F.3d 1350 (Fed. Cir. 2016) (collecting, analyzing, and displaying information held abstract); Intellectual Ventures I LLC v. Capital One Bank (USA), 792 F.3d 1363 (Fed. Cir. 2015) (tailoring and classifying information held abstract). Step 2A: Prong 2: Under Step 2A, Prong Two, the claims do not integrate the judicial exception into a practical application. The additional elements beyond the abstract idea merely recite generic computer components performing their ordinary functions, including a “first device” and a “second device” configured to generate keys, transmit information, receive information, perform cryptographic operations, and compare data. The claims do not recite any improvement to computer functionality, cryptographic technology, mobile telecommunications protocols, or network architecture. The claims merely use generic computing devices as tools to implement the abstract idea of caller authentication using encoded information. The claims do not recite any specialized hardware, unconventional communication protocol, or specific improvement in cryptographic processing. The recited “public key,” “private key,” “hashing,” “encrypting,” and “decrypting” operations are described functionally and at a high level of generality without reciting a particular technical implementation. Merely limiting the abstract idea to a mobile phone call environment does not impose a meaningful limit on the judicial exception. See Alice Corp. Pty. Ltd. v. CLS Bank Int’l, 573 U.S. 208 (2014). Under Step 2B, the claims do not recite an inventive concept sufficient to transform the abstract idea into patent-eligible subject matter. Considered individually and as an ordered combination, the additional elements amount to no more than well-understood, routine, and conventional activities previously known in the industry, including generating cryptographic keys, hashing data, encrypting and decrypting information, transmitting information between devices, consulting an address book, and comparing data values for authentication. Implementing the abstract idea using generic mobile devices and conventional cryptographic techniques does not amount to significantly more than the judicial exception itself. The dependent claims 2-10, and 12-19 of respective independent claims 1, and 11 have been analyzed and fall into one of the statutory categories and therefore passes step 1 analysis. However, under step 2, 2A & 2B analysis, the dependent claims recite mental processes which can be implemented by one or more human users using pen and paper. Thus, dependent claims also recite abstract idea and considered ineligible. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 07-06 AIA 15-10-15 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. 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, 3-11, and 13-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Huh et al., (US20170208045A1) in view of NPL document authored by Chang et al., titled “ Mobile Phone Number Privacy Scheme Based on Lightweight Hash Mapping ” . Regarding claim 1, Huh discloses: A method of sending and receiving a mobile phone call, the method comprising: generating, by a first device, a public key and a private key, and generating caller data by hashing a phone number from which the mobile phone call is to be sent ( [0100] FIG. 1 is a diagram of a device transmitting or receiving encrypted data for preventing identification of transmitting and receiving devices, between a first device and a second device; [0102] In operation 101, the first device transmitting data and the second device receiving the data exchange each other's keys. In other words, the first device may receive the key of the second device from the second device and transmit the key of the first device. The key of the first device and the key of the second device may include a public key or a secret key; [0109] In operation 201, the first device generates an encryption key. The encryption key may be generated based on a key of the first device transmitted to the second device; [0130] FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a method of transmitting encrypted data by using a public key and a nonce, according to some embodiments; [0131] In operation 401, a first device transmits a public key of the first device and a first nonce to the second device ); generating, by the first device, a caller representative code ( i.e., a first nonce ) by encrypting the caller data by using the private key ( [0134] In operation 407, the first device generates key identification information k id by using the encryption key k ab , the first nonce ); when sending the mobile phone call, transmitting, by the first device, the caller representative code and the public key to a second device ( [0135] In operation 409, the first device transmits the key identification information and the encrypted data to the second device ); based on the received public key existing in [[an address book]] of the second device, obtaining, by the second device, the caller data by decrypting the received caller representative code by using the public key ( [0141] According to some embodiments, the identifying of the key may include an operation of the second device selecting the public key of the first device from among the plurality of public keys exchanged with the plurality of devices including the first device in operation 501, based on the key identification information, or selecting an encryption key using the public key of the first device; [0142] In operation 509, the second device may obtain an encryption key corresponding to the identified first device ); hashing, by the second device, [[an incoming phone number]] ( [0188] For example, when the receiving device that received the data set decrypts E_Pr1(g) by using a private key of the receiving device, a value of g may be obtained. The receiving device may hash a value of c in the data set and the obtained value of g, and determine whether the hashed value is the same as hash(g ∥ c) in the received data set ). Huh fails to disclose: public key existing in [[an address book]] of the second device; identifying, by the second device, a sender of the mobile phone call by comparing the hashed incoming phone number with the obtained caller data. However, Chang discloses: public key existing in [[an address book]] of the second device ( Page # 3; section 3.2: (5)Finally, the called party is logged by the MSC where the called user is located, and if it is a call of the contact in the address book on the mobile terminal B, the MSISDN of the MS-A is displayed, and if it is a strange number, it is displayed on the B. It is the summary Hash (MSISDN+RAND) of the calling party number, and the call main process is completed ); identifying, by the second device, a sender of the mobile phone call by comparing the hashed incoming phone number with the obtained caller data ( Page # 3: section 3.1 through 3.2 discloses using hash function to derive the mobile phone number digest ). It would have been obvious to an ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of transmitting and receiving of encrypted data between two devices of Huh and include the Home Location Register (HLR) system which comprises of managing user information according to address book on a sending and receiving mobile terminals, as disclosed by Chang. The motivation to combine the teachings of Chang into Huh is to authenticate the caller using a public key, a private key, and an incoming phone number. Regarding claim 11 , it is a system claim and recites similar subject matter as claim 1 and therefore rejected under similar ground of rejection. Regarding claim 20 , it is a non-transitory media claim and recites similar subject matter as claim 1 and therefore rejected under similar ground of rejection. Regarding claim 3, the combination of Huh and Chang discloses: The method of claim 1, further comprising: determining, by the second device, whether the incoming phone number exists in the address book of the second device ( Chang: Page # 3; section 3.2 ). It would have been obvious to an ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of transmitting and receiving of encrypted data between two devices of Huh and include the Home Location Register (HLR) system which comprises of managing user information according to address book on a sending and receiving mobile terminals, as disclosed by Chang. The motivation to combine the teachings of Chang into Huh is to authenticate the caller using a public key, a private key, and an incoming phone number. Regarding claim 13 , it is a system claim and recites similar subject matter as claim 3 and therefore rejected under similar ground of rejection. Regarding claim 4, the combination of Huh and Chang discloses: The method of claim 1, further comprising: in response to receiving the incoming phone number, the public key and the caller representative code, based on the incoming phone number existing in the address book of the second device, identifying, by the second device, as the sender of the mobile phone call, a user corresponding to the incoming phone number that is stored in the address book of the second device ( Chang: Page # 3; section 3.2 ). It would have been obvious to an ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of transmitting and receiving of encrypted data between two devices of Huh and include the Home Location Register (HLR) system which comprises of managing user information according to address book on a sending and receiving mobile terminals, as disclosed by Chang. The motivation to combine the teachings of Chang into Huh is to authenticate the caller using a public key, a private key, and an incoming phone number. Regarding claim 5, the combination of Huh and Chang discloses: The method of claim 1, further comprising: based on the incoming phone number existing in the address book of the second device, and the public key not existing in the address book of the second device, displaying, by the second device, a notification message ( Chang: page 36 column 2 steps (1), (5): It is the summary Hash (MSISDN+RAND) of the calling party number ). It would have been obvious to an ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of transmitting and receiving of encrypted data between two devices of Huh and include the Home Location Register (HLR) system which comprises of managing user information according to address book on a sending and receiving mobile terminals, as disclosed by Chang. The motivation to combine the teachings of Chang into Huh is to authenticate the caller using a public key, a private key, and an incoming phone number. Regarding claim 16 , it is a system claim and recites similar subject matter as claim 5 and therefore rejected under similar ground of rejection. Regarding claim 6, the combination of Huh and Chang discloses: The method of claim 1, further comprising: based on the incoming phone number existing in the address book of the second device, and the public key not existing in the address book of the second device, displaying, by the second device, the incoming phone number as the sender, without identifying, as the sender of the mobile phone call, a user corresponding to the incoming phone number that is stored in the address book of the second device ( Chang: page 36 column 2 steps (1), (5): It is the summary Hash (MSISDN+RAND) of the calling party number ). It would have been obvious to an ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of transmitting and receiving of encrypted data between two devices of Huh and include the Home Location Register (HLR) system which comprises of managing user information according to address book on a sending and receiving mobile terminals, as disclosed by Chang. The motivation to combine the teachings of Chang into Huh is to authenticate the caller using a public key, a private key, and an incoming phone number. Regarding claim 17 , it is a system claim and recites similar subject matter as claim 6 and therefore rejected under similar ground of rejection. Regarding claim 7, the combination of Huh and Chang discloses: The method of claim 1, further comprising: based on the incoming phone number not existing in the address book of the second device, and the hashed incoming phone number and the obtained caller data matching each other: identifying, by the second device, as the sender of the mobile phone call, a user corresponding to the public key that is stored in the address book of the second device; and displaying the identified sender ( Chang: page 36 column 2 steps (1), (5): Finally, the called party is logged by the MSC where the called user is located, and if it is a call of the contact in the address book on the mobile terminal B, the MSISDN of the MS-A is displayed, and if it is a strange number, it is displayed on the B. t is the summary Hash (MSISDN+RAND) of the calling party number ). It would have been obvious to an ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of transmitting and receiving of encrypted data between two devices of Huh and include the Home Location Register (HLR) system which comprises of managing user information according to address book on a sending and receiving mobile terminals, as disclosed by Chang. The motivation to combine the teachings of Chang into Huh is to authenticate the caller using a public key, a private key, and an incoming phone number. Regarding claim 14 , it is a system claim and recites similar subject matter as claim 7 and therefore rejected under similar ground of rejection. Regarding claim 8, the combination of Huh and Chang discloses: The method of claim 7, further comprising updating: by the second device, the address book of the second device by adding the incoming phone number as a phone number of the user corresponding to the public key that is stored in the address book of the second device ( Examiner consider this claim to be design choice with no inventive activity; when new information related to a MSISDN/user is received by a device the user is generally presented with a prompt to complete the information or add to the existing information ). Regarding claim 9, the combination of Huh and Chang discloses: The method of claim 1, further comprising: based on the incoming phone number not existing in the address book of the second device, and the public key existing in the address book of the second device, generating, by the second device, a new message box for messages from the identified sender ( Examiner consider this claim to be design choice with no inventive activity; when new information related to a MSISDN/user is received by a device the user is generally presented with a prompt to complete the information or add to the existing information ). Regarding claim 10, the combination of Huh and Chang discloses: The method of claim 1, further comprising: by the second device, based on receiving the incoming phone number, the public key, and the caller representative code, transmitting a public key of the second device to the first device; and by the first device, based on the received public key not matching a public key of the second device that is stored in an address book of the first device ( Huh: [0141-0142] ), displaying a notification of a possibility that a phone number of the second device has been changed ( Huh: [0338] ). Regarding claim 15 , it is a system claim and recites similar subject matter as claim 10 and therefore rejected under similar ground of rejection. Regarding claim 18, the combination of Huh and Chang discloses: The system of claim 11, wherein the second device is further configured to, based on the incoming phone number existing in the address book of the second device, and the public key not existing in the address book of the second device, display the incoming phone number as the sender, without identifying, as the sender of the mobile phone call, a user corresponding to the incoming phone number that is stored in the address book of the second device ( Chang : page 36 column 2 steps (1), (5): Finally, the called party is logged by the MSC where the called user is located, and if it is a call of the contact in the address book on the mobile terminal B, the MSISDN of the MS-A is displayed, and if it is a strange number, it is displayed on the B. t is the summary Hash (MSISDN+RAND) of the calling party number ). It would have been obvious to an ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of transmitting and receiving of encrypted data between two devices of Huh and include the Home Location Register (HLR) system which comprises of managing user information according to address book on a sending and receiving mobile terminals, as disclosed by Chang. The motivation to combine the teachings of Chang into Huh is to authenticate the caller using a public key, a private key, and an incoming phone number. Regarding claim 19, the combination of Huh and Chang discloses: The system of claim 11, wherein the second device is further configured to, based on the hashed incoming phone number and the obtained caller data not matching each other, display a notification of a possibility that the mobile phone call is dangerous ( Chang: Page # 36: section 3.2 ). It would have been obvious to an ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of transmitting and receiving of encrypted data between two devices of Huh and include the Home Location Register (HLR) system which comprises of managing user information according to address book on a sending and receiving mobile terminals, as disclosed by Chang. The motivation to combine the teachings of Chang into Huh is to authenticate the caller using a public key, a private key, and an incoming phone number . 07-21-aia AIA Claim (s) 2, and 12 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Huh et al., (US20170208045A1) in view of NPL document authored by Chang et al., titled “ Mobile Phone Number Privacy Scheme Based on Lightweight Hash Mapping ” and further in view of Liu et al., (US20210400148A1) . Regarding claim 2, the combination of Huh and Chang fails to disclose: The method of claim 1, wherein the phone number from which the mobile phone call is to be sent is a phone number corresponding to a subscriber identity module (SIM) card selected from among a plurality of SIM cards used by the first device. However, Liu discloses: wherein the phone number from which the mobile phone call is to be sent is a phone number corresponding to a subscriber identity module (SIM) card selected from among a plurality of SIM cards used by the first device ( [0028] Additionally, each client computing device 102 can include one or more Subscriber Identity Modules (SIMs) 130. According to some embodiments, one or more of the SIMs 130 can represent a physical/removable SIM card (e.g., a 2FF, 3FF, 4FF, etc. SIM card) that is inserted into a respective receiving bay included in the client computing device 102. Additionally, one or more of the SIMs 130 can represent an electronic Universal Integrated Circuit Card (eUICC) capable of managing one or more electronic (i.e., virtual/non-physical) Subscriber Identity Modules (eSIMs). In any case, each SIM 130 typically is associated with a phone number that enables the client computing device 102 to access wireless services provided by a respective Mobile Network Operator (MNO) with which the SIM 130 is associated. According to some embodiments, and as described in greater detail herein, the SIMs 130 can enable users to prove that they have both initial and continuing ownership over phone numbers that are tied to the user accounts 152 ). It would have been obvious to an ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Huh in view of Chang and include a system which comprises of a client device that includes one or more Subscriber Identity Modules (SIMs), as disclosed by Liu. The motivation to include the teachings of Liu is enable users of client device to access wireless services provided by a respective Mobile Network Operator (MNO) with which the SIM is associated and also enable users to prove that they have both initial and continuing ownership over phone numbers that are tied to the user accounts. Regarding claim 12 , it is a system claim and recites similar subject matter as claim 2 and therefore rejected under similar ground of rejection. Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SYED M AHSAN whose telephone number is (571)272-5018. The examiner can normally be reached 8:30 AM - 6:00 PM. 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, William Korzuch can be reached at 571-272-7589. 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. /SYED M AHSAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2491 Application/Control Number: 19/037,986 Page 2 Art Unit: 2491 Application/Control Number: 19/037,986 Page 3 Art Unit: 2491 Application/Control Number: 19/037,986 Page 4 Art Unit: 2491 Application/Control Number: 19/037,986 Page 5 Art Unit: 2491 Application/Control Number: 19/037,986 Page 6 Art Unit: 2491 Application/Control Number: 19/037,986 Page 7 Art Unit: 2491 Application/Control Number: 19/037,986 Page 8 Art Unit: 2491 Application/Control Number: 19/037,986 Page 9 Art Unit: 2491 Application/Control Number: 19/037,986 Page 10 Art Unit: 2491 Application/Control Number: 19/037,986 Page 11 Art Unit: 2491 Application/Control Number: 19/037,986 Page 12 Art Unit: 2491 Application/Control Number: 19/037,986 Page 13 Art Unit: 2491 Application/Control Number: 19/037,986 Page 14 Art Unit: 2491 Application/Control Number: 19/037,986 Page 15 Art Unit: 2491 Application/Control Number: 19/037,986 Page 16 Art Unit: 2491 Application/Control Number: 19/037,986 Page 17 Art Unit: 2491
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