DETAILED ACTION
This Office Action is in response to the application 19/098151, filed on 03/25/2025.
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claims 1-20 have been examined and are pending in this application. Claims 1, 11, and 16 are independent.
Priority/Continuity
This application has a foreign priority relationship with Application No. JP2024-056376, filed on 03/29/2024.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS), submitted on 03/25/2025, is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the Examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 of this title, 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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the Examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the Examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Narasimhan et al (“Narasimhan,” US 2011/0055907, published on 03/03/2011), in view of Nagasawa et al (“Nagasawa,” US 2019/0356797, published on 11/21/2019).
As to claim 1, Narasimhan teaches a non-transitory computer-readable recording medium storing a computer program for a terminal device,
wherein the computer program, when executed by a processor of the terminal device (Narasimhan: Abstract, pars 0010, 0012-0014, systems, methods, apparatus, and computer programs perform the actions of the methods for monitoring and managing network access and function of one or more host devices, based on the host devices authentication information in a nonce and realm authentication network environment), cause the terminal device to:
receive authentication-related information from a specific device, the authentication-related information being related to authentication for the specific device to execute a process (Narasimhan: pars 0010, 0012-0014, 0080, 0084, based on the received authentication information from a host device, the network access control server, of the authentication network environment, verify the authentication, and positively authenticates the assess request or rejects the login request);
in a case where the authentication-related information is received from the specific device and the authentication-related information includes first type of information, display, on a display of the terminal device, a first input screen for prompting a user to input a user identifier and a password (Narasimhan: pars, 0077-0080, 0084; Fig 7, in a secure guest detection process, causes the host device to generate a user login and password prompt [i.e. both user identifier and a password]. Upon receiving these login credentials, the network access control server authenticates or rejects the login); and
in a case where the authentication-related information is received from the specific device and the authentication-related information includes second type of information different from the first type of information, display, on the display, a second input screen different from the first input screen for prompting a user to input only a password instead of a user identifier and the password (Narasimhan: pars 0010, 0013-0014, 0077-0080, 0084; Fig 7, in a host detection process, uses an authentication process, where a user password, associating with the authentication realm and a user device, is used to create a hash. Then during an authentication process, in response to an authentication query, receives the password form the user, using the user device, as a reply data [including the password], and generates another hash using the received information, and determines if the generated hash matches with the reference hash for positively authenticating the user’s access request).
Narasimhan does not explicitly teach specific reading device, a reading device being for image reading from a document; specific reading device to execute a process related to image reading from a document; authentication-related information is received from the specific reading device.
However, in an analogous art, Nagasawa teaches specific reading device, a reading device being for image reading from a document (Nagasawa: pars 0023, 0028, 0041; Fig 3, Multi-Functional Peripherals (MFP) or image processing apparatuses’ operation of reading an image on a document by image pickup unit [i.e., reading device for image reading from a document), where the access control of MFP operation is managed by an information table that list terminal devices with specific ID); specific reading device to execute a process related to image reading from a document; authentication-related information is received from the specific reading device (Nagasawa: pars 0023, 0028, 0033, 0047-0049; Fig 3, the access control of MFP operation is managed by an information table that list terminal devices with specific ID associated with the devices or username-password, and permits execution various types of image processing functions initiated at a terminal device or by user of a terminal device).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teachings of Nagasawa with the method/system of Narasimhan to include the limitation(s), specific reading device, a reading device being for image reading from a document; specific reading device to execute a process related to image reading from a document; authentication-related information is received from the specific reading device, where one would have been motivated to manage access control of one or more image reading processing functions by implementing two or more types of authentication process using solely using requesting user’s username-password combination of using device information of the device that the request is generated by the user, in providing various level of image reading processing functions as needed by a system (Nagasawa: pars 0023, 0028, 0041, 0033, 0047-0049).
As to claim 2, the combination of Narasimhan and Nagasawa teaches the non-transitory computer-readable recording medium according to claim 1,
Narasimhan teaches further teaches wherein the computer program, when executed by the processor, further cause the terminal device to: in a case where the computer program is activated, send, to the specific reading device, a sending request requesting the authentication-related information to be sent, wherein in response to the sending request being sent to the specific reading device, the authentication-related information is received from the specific reading device (Narasimhan: pars 0010, 0013-0014, 0077-0080, 0084; Fig 7, during an authentication process, in response to an authentication query, receives the password form the user, using the user device, as a reply data [including the password], and generates another hash using the received information, and determines if the generated hash matches with the reference hash for positively authenticating the user’s access request).
As to claim 3, the combination of Narasimhan and Nagasawa teaches the non-transitory computer-readable recording medium according to claim 1,
Nagasawa teaches further teaches wherein the computer program, when executed by the processor, further cause the terminal device to: display, on the display, a selection screen for selecting a reading device to be caused to execute the process from among a plurality of reading devices that are configured to communicate with the terminal device; and in a case where an operation for selecting the specific reading device from among the plurality of reading devices is received on the selection screen, send, to the specific reading device, a sending request requesting the authentication-related information to be sent, wherein in response to the sending request being sent to the specific reading device, the authentication-related information is received from the specific reading device (Nagasawa: pars 0033, 0047-0049, 0054; Fig 3. an authentication mode is chosen as specific operation functions, specific to the user, or public mode operation functions specific to a device information that the request originates from, and system authenticates the request accordingly).
As to claim 4, the combination of Narasimhan and Nagasawa teaches the non-transitory computer-readable recording medium according to claim 1,
Nagasawa teaches further teaches wherein the first type of information indicates that the specific reading device executes the authentication using a user identifier designated by a user and a password designated by the user (Nagasawa: pars 0023, 0028, 0033, 0047-0049; Fig 3, the access control of MFP operation is managed by an information table, and permits execution various types of image processing functions initiated at a terminal device or by user of a terminal device, using username-password od the user).
As to claim 5, the combination of Narasimhan and Nagasawa teaches the non-transitory computer-readable recording medium according to claim 1,
Narasimhan and Nagasawa teaches further teaches wherein the second type of information indicates that the specific reading device executes the authentication using a fixed user identifier preset since dispatch of the specific reading device and a password designated by a user (Narasimhan: pars 0010, 0013-0014, 0077-0080, 0084; Fig 7, in a host detection process, uses an authentication process, where a user password, associating with the authentication realm and a user device, is used to create a hash. Then during an authentication process, in response to an authentication query, receives the password form the user, using the user device, as a reply data [including the password], and generates another hash using the received information, and determines if the generated hash matches with the reference hash for positively authenticating the user’s access request. Nagasawa: pars 0023, 0028, 0033, 0047-0049; Fig 3, the access control of MFP operation is managed by an information table, and permits execution various types of image processing functions initiated at a terminal device or by user of a terminal device, where an ID is used associated with the device [i.e. fixed/preset identifier]).
As to claim 6, the combination of Narasimhan and Nagasawa teaches the non-transitory computer-readable recording medium according to claim 5,
Narasimhan and Nagasawa teaches further teaches wherein the first input screen includes a first user identifier input area for inputting a user identifier and a first password input area for inputting a password, and the second input screen includes a second user identifier input area in which the fixed user identifier is inputted and a second password input area for inputting a password (Nagasawa: pars 0060, Fig 5, present login screen, and user chooses to enter username and password, or enter a public mode [i.e., fixed user identifier] ).
As to claim 7, the combination of Narasimhan and Nagasawa teaches the non-transitory computer-readable recording medium according to claim 6,
Narasimhan and Nagasawa teaches further teaches wherein the second user identifier input area of the second input screen is configured so that characters in the second user identifier input area are non-changeable (Nagasawa: pars 0060, Fig 5, present login screen, and user chooses to enter username and password, or enter a public mode [i.e., fixed user identifier], for public mode, there is no option to enter username [i.e., an equivalent implementation showing non-changeable input area]).
As to claim 8, the combination of Narasimhan and Nagasawa teaches the non-transitory computer-readable recording medium according to claim 6,
Narasimhan and Nagasawa teaches further teaches wherein the second type of information includes the fixed user identifier, and the fixed user identifier included in the second type of information is inputted in the second user identifier input area (Nagasawa: pars 0060, Fig 5, for public mode [i.e., fixed user identifier], present login screen, and user chooses to enter using a public mode [i.e., fixed user identifier] option, Narasimhan: pars 0010, 0013-0014, 0077-0080, 0084; Fig 7, during an authentication process, in response to an authentication query, receives the password form the user, using the user device, as a reply data [including the password], and generates another hash using the received information, and determines if the generated hash matches with the reference hash for positively authenticating the user’s access request).
As to claim 9, the combination of Narasimhan and Nagasawa teaches the non-transitory computer-readable recording medium according to claim 6,
Narasimhan and Nagasawa teaches further teaches wherein the second user identifier input area of the second input screen is configured so that characters in the second user identifier input area are changeable, and the second input screen further includes a message for requesting not to change the fixed user identifier inputted in the second user identifier input area (Nagasawa: pars 0060, Fig 5, present login screen, and user chooses to enter username and password, or enter a public mode [i.e., fixed user identifier], for public mode, there is no option to enter username [i.e., an equivalent implementation not having any option to change the non-changeable input area]).
As to claim 10, the combination of Narasimhan and Nagasawa teaches the non-transitory computer-readable recording medium according to claim 1,
Narasimhan and Nagasawa teaches further teaches wherein the first input screen includes a first user identifier input area for inputting a user identifier and a first password input area for inputting a password, and the second input screen includes a second password input area for inputting a password but does not include a user identifier input area for inputting a user identifier (Nagasawa: pars 0060, Fig 5, the system present login screen, and user chooses to enter username and password for personalized access to the system by entering username and password. For public mode [i.e., fixed user identifier] access, user enters public mode option [i.e., fixed user identifier]. Narasimhan: pars 0010, 0013-0014, 0077-0080, 0084; Fig 7, during an authentication process, in response to an authentication query, receives the password form the user, using the user device, as a reply data [including the password], and generates another hash using the received information, and determines if the generated hash matches with the reference hash for positively authenticating the user’s access request).
As to claim 11, the claim is directed to a device, and the scope of the claim limitations is similar to the claim 1, and therefore, rejected for the same reasons set forth above for claim 1.
As to claims 12-15, the claims are directed to a device, and the scopes of the claims are similar to the claims 2-5, respectively, and therefore, rejected for the same reasons set forth above for claims 2-5.
As to claim 16, the claim is directed to a method, and the scope of the claim limitations is similar to the claim 1, and therefore, rejected for the same reasons set forth above for claim 1.
As to claims 17-20, the claims are directed to a device, and the scopes of the claims are similar to the claims 2-5, respectively, and therefore, rejected for the same reasons set forth above for claims 2-5.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the Examiner should be directed to Jahangir Kabir whose telephone number is (571) 270-3355. The Examiner can normally be reached on 9:00- 5:00 Mon-Thu.
If attempts to reach the Examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the Examiner’s supervisor, Luu Pham can be reached on (571) 270-5002. The fax number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from Patent Center and the Private Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from Patent Center or Private PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Patent Center and Private PAIR for authorized users only. Should you have questions about access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free).
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) Form at https://www.uspto.gov/patents/uspto-automated- interview-request-air-form.
/JAHANGIR KABIR/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2439
Prosecution Insights