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 .
Preliminary Amendment, received on 21 February 2025, has been entered into record. In this amendment, claims 1, 5-7, 9, 11, 12, 16-18, and 20 have been amended, claim 19 has been canceled, and claim 21 has been added.
Claims 1-18, 20, and 21 are presented for examination.
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
The claim for priority from PCT/EP2023/0744299 filed on 6 September 2023 is duly noted.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement filed 21 February 2025 fails to comply with 37 CFR 1.98(a)(2), which requires a legible copy of each cited foreign patent document; each non-patent literature publication or that portion which caused it to be listed; and all other information or that portion which caused it to be listed. It has been placed in the application file, but the information referred to therein has not been considered.
Specification
The lengthy specification has not been checked to the extent necessary to determine the presence of all possible minor errors. Applicant’s cooperation is requested in correcting any errors of which applicant may become aware in the specification.
Claim Objections
Claim 18 is objected to because of the following informalities:
In claim 18, lines 9-10: “Simplified Verification Payment (SPV)” should read –Simplified Payment Verification (SPV)–. The examiner notes that similar language has been used throughout the specification.
Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 5 and 15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Regarding claim 5, the phrase "such as" renders the claim indefinite because it is unclear whether the limitations following the phrase are part of the claimed invention. See MPEP § 2173.05(d).
Regarding claim 15, the phrase “preferably” renders the claim indefinite because it is unclear whether the limitations following the phrase are part of the claimed invention.
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.
Claim(s) 1-4, 7-11, 14-18, 20, and 21 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by McMurdie et al. (US 2020/0084194 A1 and McMurdie hereinafter).
As to claims 1 and 20, McMurdie discloses a system and method for blockchain-based secured multicast communications, the system and method having:
operating a sending resource for generating, storing, processing, accessing and/or maintaining a packet of data, said packet of data including blockchain related data (0006, lines 1-14);
sending, at least in part, a transmission of the packet of data from the sending resource across an electronic network to a multicast group, wherein the multicast group makes available the packet of data for an end-user (0006, lines 1-14).
As to claim 2, McMurdie discloses:
a receiving resource for storing, processing, accessing and/or maintaining the packet of data (0009, lines 1-19; 0024, lines 1-4; 0025, lines 1-12).
As to claim 3, McMurdie discloses:
wherein: the receiving resource subscribes to the multicast group or another multicast group for receiving the packet of data or another packet of data (0009, lines 1-19; 0024, lines 1-4; 0025, lines 1-12).
As to claim 4, McMurdie discloses:
wherein: the sending resource transmits a plurality of packets of data, and/or the receiving resource receives a plurality of packets of data (0028, lines 10-11).
As to claim 7, McMurdie discloses:
wherein the packet of data and/or access to the multicast group is secured and accessible using an access-key (0058, lines 5-11).
As to claim 8, McMurdie discloses:
wherein a first access-key is required to access the packet of data, and a second access-key is required to access the multicast group (0058, lines 5-11; 0059, lines 6-12).
As to claim 9, McMurdie discloses:
wherein: the sending resource generates the access-key (0058, lines 1-12), and sends the required access-key to at least one of the receiver and an end-user of the packet of data for accessing the packet of data (0060, lines 1-8).
As to claim 10, McMurdie discloses:
wherein the access-key is provided during an exchange using a payment channel and/or a smart contract (0060, lines 4-8).
As to claim 11, McMurdie discloses:
wherein the access-key provides access to the multicast group and/or packet of data for at least one of (i) a fixed period of time, (ii) a fixed quantity of data, (iii) a fixed quantity of units, (iv) a fixed number of packets of data, and (v) unlimited access (0045, lines 5-17).
As to claim 14, McMurdie discloses:
operating a receiving resource for storing, processing, accessing and/or maintaining a packet of data, said packet of data preferably including blockchain related data; and receiving, at least in part, a transmission of a packet of data via a multicast group that received the packet of data from an electronic network, and consuming the packet of data as an end-user (0006, lines 1-14).
As to claim 15, McMurdie discloses:
wherein the packet of data and/or access to the multicast group is secured and accessible using an access-key, preferably obtained via a payment channel (0058, lines 1-17).
As to claim 16, McMurdie discloses:
wherein the packet of data includes at least one of: a portion of a transaction (Tx); an output identifier; a hash of an output script; a transaction identification (TxID); a blockchain block; and a block header (0008, lines 1-7).
As to claim 17, McMurdie discloses:
wherein the packet of data comprises at least one of: at least part of a blockchain transaction; at least part of a blockchain block (0008, lines 1-7); at least part of a blockchain transaction script; a Merkle Tree of the block in which said packet of data is recorded; the Merkle root the block in which said packet of data is recorded; a Merkle path, which enables the determination of the value for the Merkle root for the block in which said packet of data is recorded, from a hash of said packet of data; a Merkle proof; data for use with, or associated with, a consensus mechanism of a blockchain network the result of, or data relating to, a proof-of-stake or proof-of-work operation; a block identifier (block_ID) associated with the blockchain block; a transaction identifier (TxID) associated with a transaction (Tx) in the plurality of blockchain transactions within the blockchain block; a function of the block identifier (block_ID) and the transaction identifier (TxID); a concatenation of the block identifier (block_ID) and the transaction identifier (TxID); a digital signature; an authentication code; a signature message for determining a transactional state; a protocol flag; a discretionary public key (DPK); and a discretionary transaction ID (DTxID).
As to claim 18, McMurdie discloses:
wherein the sending and/or receiving resource comprises: a node in a blockchain network (trusted node) (0009, lines 1-7); a service provider arranged to provide a blockchain-related service; a computing resource associated with or controlled by a financial institution; a cryptocurrency exchange or component thereof; a merchant resource or component thereof; a digital wallet or component thereof; a software component operative to perform or facilitate a Simplified Verification Payment (SPV) operation, or process the result of a SPV operation; a MLDv1 host or MLDv2 host on a network, a network switch or a router.
As to claim 21, McMurdie discloses:
wherein the packet of data is made available via controlled access (0058, lines 1-17).
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, 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.
Claim(s) 5, 6, 12, and 13 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over McMurdie as applied to claims 1 and 4 above, and further in view of McCanne (US 2014/0105209 A1).
As to claim 5, McMurdie fails to specifically disclose:
wherein packet of data is, at least in part, a data stream, such as a multimedia communication channel.
Nonetheless, this feature is well known in the art and would have been an obvious modification of the teachings disclosed by McMurdie, as taught by McCanne.
McCanne discloses a system and method for performing multicast communication in computer networks by using overlay routing, the system and method having:
wherein packet of data is, at least in part, a data stream, such as a multimedia communication channel (0139, lines 3-5).
Given the teaching of McCanne, a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have readily recognized the desirability and advantages of modifying the teachings of McMurdie with the teachings of McCanne by using a data stream. McCanne recites motivation by disclosing that using streaming allows for multicasting live media over the Internet with flexible bandwidth management (0003, 0009). It is obvious that the teachings of McCanne would have improved the teachings of McMurdie by using the a data stream in order to multicast live media over the Internet with flexible bandwidth management.
As to claim 6, McMurdie fails to specifically disclose:
wherein the packet of data has sub-components for providing a plurality of data channels.
Nonetheless, this feature is well known in the art and would have been an obvious modification of the teachings disclosed by McMurdie, as taught by McCanne.
McCanne discloses:
wherein the packet of data has sub-components for providing a plurality of data channels (0043, lines 9-16).
Given the teaching of McCanne, a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have readily recognized the desirability and advantages of modifying the teachings of McMurdie with the teachings of McCanne by using sub-components. Please refer to the motivation recited above with respect to claim 5 as to why it is obvious to apply the teachings of McCanne to the teachings of McMurdie.
As to claim 12, McMurdie fails to specifically disclose:
wherein: the sending resource transmits the plurality of packets of data to respective allocated addresses, wherein the allocated addresses are determined from the respective packets of data, or the access key; and/or the receiving resource receives the plurality of packets of data from at least one multicast group and aggregates the packets of data.
Nonetheless, this feature is well known in the art and would have been an obvious modification of the teachings disclosed by McMurdie, as taught by McCanne.
McCanne discloses:
wherein: the sending resource transmits the plurality of packets of data to respective allocated addresses, wherein the allocated addresses are determined from the respective packets of data, or the access key (0043, lines 9-16); and/or the receiving resource receives the plurality of packets of data from at least one multicast group and aggregates the packets of data.
Given the teaching of McCanne, a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have readily recognized the desirability and advantages of modifying the teachings of McMurdie with the teachings of McCanne by determining addresses from packets. Please refer to the motivation recited above with respect to claim 5 as to why it is obvious to apply the teachings of McCanne to the teachings of McMurdie.
As to claim 13, McMurdie fails to specifically disclose:
wherein the allocated address is a multicast address associated with a group of receiving resources.
Nonetheless, this feature is well known in the art and would have been an obvious modification of the teachings disclosed by McMurdie, as taught by McCanne.
McCanne discloses:
wherein the allocated address is a multicast address associated with a group of receiving resources (0043, lines 7-9).
Given the teaching of McCanne, a person having ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention would have readily recognized the desirability and advantages of modifying the teachings of McMurdie with the teachings of McCanne by using a multicast address associated with a group. Please refer to the motivation recited above with respect to claim 5 as to why it is obvious to apply the teachings of McCanne to the teachings of McMurdie.
Prior Art Made of Record
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure.
Hu et al. (US Patent 11,755,522 B1) discloses a system and method for blockchain on switch.
Janaudy (WO 2021/071421 A1) discloses a system and method for managing digital assets.
Kang et al. (KR 20250176586 A) discloses a system and method for forming wireless LAN AP access.
Pagani et al. (WO 2024/175461 A1) discloses a system and method for service provisioning.
Trevethan et al. (EP 3643000 B1) discloses a system and method for time release encryption over a blockchain network.
Wei et al. (WO 2024/001037 A1) discloses a system and method for message transmission.
Wright (WO 2024/052398 A1) discloses a system and method for improved communications across a blockchain.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SARAH SU whose telephone number is (571)270-3835. The examiner can normally be reached 6:30 AM - 3:00 PM.
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/SARAH SU/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2431
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