DETAILED ACTION
Claims 2-21 are pending. Claim 1 is canceled.
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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 05/15/2025 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
Double Patenting
The nonstatutory 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 nonstatutory double patenting rejection is appropriate where the conflicting claims are not identical, but at least one examined application claim is not patentably distinct from the reference claim(s) because the examined application claim is either anticipated by, or would have been obvious over, the reference claim(s). 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); 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 nonstatutory double patenting provided the reference application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with the examined application, or claims an invention made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement. See MPEP § 717.02 for applications subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA as explained in MPEP § 2159. See MPEP § 2146 et seq. for applications not subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . A terminal disclaimer must be signed in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(b).
The filing of a terminal disclaimer by itself is not a complete reply to a nonstatutory double patenting (NSDP) rejection. A complete reply requires that the terminal disclaimer be accompanied by a reply requesting reconsideration of the prior Office action. Even where the NSDP rejection is provisional the reply must be complete. See MPEP § 804, subsection I.B.1. For a reply to a non-final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.111(a). For a reply to final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.113(c). A request for reconsideration while not provided for in 37 CFR 1.113(c) may be filed after final for consideration. See MPEP §§ 706.07(e) and 714.13.
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Claims 2-21 rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1-20 of U.S. Patent No. 12,273,446. Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because the claims of the instant application are anticipated by the claims of the patent.
Independent claims 2, 9 and 16 of the instant application are mapped to claims 1, 8 and 15 of the patent. Claims 3, 10 & 17 of the instant application are mapped to claims 3, 10 & 17 of the patent. Claims 4, 11 & 18 of the instant application are mapped to claims 2, 9 & 16 of the patent. Claims 5, 12 & 19 of the instant application are mapped to claims 4, 11 & 18 of the patent. Claims 6, 13 & 20 of the instant application are mapped to claims 5, 12 & 20 of the patent. Claims 7-8, 14-15 & 21 of the instant application are mapped to claims 6-7, 13-14 & 20 of the patent.
Instant Application No. 19/076,835
U.S. Patent No. 12,273,446
2. A method for masking operation security in a cryptographic technique, the method comprising:
1. A method for masking operation security in a cryptographic technique, the method comprising:
generating a first random number;
generating a first random number;
determining a result of the first random number modulo a prime number resulting in a second random number;
determining a result of the first random number modulo a prime number resulting in a second random number;
subtracting the second random number from a private key value resulting in a first split;
subtracting the second random number from the prime number resulting in a first subtraction result; adding a value of a private key to the first subtraction result resulting in a first split;
and responsive to determining the private key value is less than or equal to the second random number providing the first split and the second random number as portions of the private key.
and responsive to determining the private key value is less than the second random number, providing the first split and the second random number as splits of the private key.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-21 would be allowable if rewritten or amended to overcome the rejection(s) under Double Patenting, set forth in this Office action.
Examiner’s Statement of Reasons for Allowance
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance: After a fully conducted search and consideration, the prior art either taken alone or in combination neither anticipates nor render obvious to the claimed subject matter of the instant application. The prior art NG et al. (US Pub No. 2021/0028931) discloses a distributed key management system, which contains a server, a plurality of key-holding devices adapted to communicate with the server; and a key-requesting device adapted to communicate with the server. Each one of the plurality of key-holding devices is adapted to hold a different fragment of a private key. The server is adapted to reconstruct the private key based on the fragments received from the plurality of key-holding devices. The key-requesting device is adapted to obtain the private key from the server. The systems according to the invention provide a zero-trust model key management scheme and would eliminate the risk of key leakage to unauthorized person while providing flexibility of authorizing devices. (NG, Abstract), Gryb et al. (US Pub No. 2020/0410113) discloses securing user location data. A method includes receiving, by a location server computer, an encrypted location from a mobile device. The encrypted location is a location of the mobile device encrypted with a public key. The method then includes receiving, by the location server computer, a location request message from an interaction processing server and partially decrypting, by the location server computer, the encrypted location with a first private key share to form a partially decrypted location. The method further includes transmitting, by the location server computer to the interaction processing server, a location response message with the encrypted location and the partially decrypted location. The interaction processing server then uses the partially decrypted location and the second private key share to form a decrypted location. (Gryb, Abstract), Peddada et al. (US Patent No. 10,476,855) discloses identify confirmation and transaction security are described. The system generates a challenge. The system transmits to a client computing system an encrypted challenge generated using the challenge and a public key of an asymmetric key pair to a client computing system. The system fragments a private key of the asymmetric key pair into a first, second and third private key fragments. The system generates a first partially decrypted challenge using the first private key fragment and the encrypted challenge. The system receives a second and a third partially decrypted challenges from the client computing system. The system generates a decrypted challenge using the first, second and third partially decrypted challenges. The system compares the decrypted challenge and the challenge for identity verification. (Peddada, Abstract), BARBU et al. (US Pub No. 2021/0409208) discloses a cryptographic processing method comprises the following steps: obtaining a second number determined by adding to a first number the order of a finite group or a multiple of this order; determining a quotient and a remainder by dividing the second number by a random number; obtaining a third element equal to the combination of elements equal to a first element of the finite group and in number equal to the product of the quotient and the random number; obtaining a fourth element equal to the combination of elements equal to the first element and in number equal to the remainder; determining a second element by combining the third element and the fourth element. (BARBU, Abstract), Tunstall (US Pub No. 2018/0351729) discloses a value corresponding to an input for a cryptographic operation may be received. The value may be masked by multiplying the value with a first number modulo a prime number. The cryptographic operation may subsequently be performed on the masked value. (Tunstall, Abstract and paragraphs 0013-0015), Ebeid (US Pub No. 2008/0273694) discloses an Elliptic Curve scalar multiplication product involving a scalar and a base point is determined in a manner that acts as a countermeasure to side channel attacks. A key splitting strategy called Additive Splitting Using Division involves selecting a random integer and determining an integer quotient and a remainder by dividing the scalar by the random integer. The product may then be expressed as a sum of scalar multiplications, which may be evaluated using a combination of a fixed-sequence window method with the known Interleaving method. When the integer quotient and remainder are odd, major collisions may be avoided when determining the product. Accordingly, the random integer that determines whether the integer quotient and remainder are odd may be subject to some control. (Ebeid, Abstract), Ambrose et al. (DARNS:A Randomized Multi-modulo RNS Architecture for Double-and-Add in ECC to prevent Power Analysis Side Channel Attacks) disclose security in embedded systems is of critical importance since most of our secure transactions are currently made via credit cards or mobile phones. Power analysis based side channel attacks have been proved as the most successful attacks on embedded systems to retrieve secret keys, allowing impersonation and theft. State-of-theart solutions for such attacks in Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC), mostly in software, hinder performance and repeatedly attacked using improved techniques. To protect the ECC from both simple power analysis and differential power analysis, as a hardware solution, we propose to take advantage of the inherent parallelization capability in Multi-modulo Residue Number Systems (RNS) architectures to obfuscate the secure information. Random selection of moduli is proposed to randomly choose the moduli sets for each key bit operation. This solution allows us to prevent power analysis, while still providing all the benefits of RNS. In this paper, we show that Differential Power Analysis is thwarted, as well as correlation analysis. (Ambrose, Abstract) and Tunstall et al. (Boolean Exponent Splitting) discloses a typical countermeasure against side-channel attacks consists of masking intermediate values with a random number. In symmetric cryptographic algorithms, Boolean shares of the secret are typically used, whereas in asymmetric algorithms the secret exponent is typically masked using algebraic properties. This paper presents a new exponent splitting technique with minimal impact on performance based on Boolean shares, typically requiring only an extra register and a few register copies per bit. We perform a security evaluation of our algorithms using a mutual information framework and provide proofs that they are secure against first-order side-channel attacks. The side-channel resistance of the proposed algorithms are also practically verified with test vector leakage assessment performed on Xilinx’s Zynq zc702 evaluation board. (Tunstall, Abstract), however, the prior art taken alone or in combination fails to teach or suggest “determining a result of the first random number modulo a prime number resulting in a second random number; subtracting the second random number from a private key value resulting in a first split; and responsive to determining the private key value is less than or equal to the second random number providing the first split and the second random number as portions of the private key” (as recited in claims 2, 9 and 16). Claims are allowed in light of the above claim limitations when in combination with the remaining claim limitations.
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Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SHAQUEAL D WADE whose telephone number is (571)270-0357. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:00-5:00.
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/SHAQUEAL D WADE-WRIGHT/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2407
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