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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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) 1-7, 11-17, and 21-22 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102a1 as being anticipated by US 2022/0091757 (Lee).
With regard to claim 1, Lee discloses an apparatus, comprising:
a memory controller: coupled to a memory module through a first channel and configured to access data stored in the memory module through the first channel; and coupled to a host device through a first interface and configured to communicate with the host device over the first interface (Lee: Figure 1),
the memory controller configured to perform operations comprising:
receiving a read request for requested data stored in a replay protected memory block (RPMB) portion of the memory module, wherein the read request comprises first information corresponding to the RPMB portion and a first message authentication code (MAC) determined by the host device based on at least a portion of the first information (Lee: Paragraphs [0010], [0048], and Figure 7);
determining a second message authentication code (MAC) based on second information stored in the memory module and the first information (Lee: Paragraph [0223]);
determining whether the read request is valid based on comparing the first MAC with the second MAC (Lee: Paragraph [0048]); and
transmitting the requested data to the host device through the first interface based on the determining whether the read request is valid (Lee: Paragraph [0048]).
With regard to claim 2, Lee discloses that the first information comprises an address, a nonce, a block count, and a write counter (Lee: Figure 7).
With regard to claim 3, Lee discloses wherein the first MAC is based on a first authentication key stored on the host device, and wherein determining the second MAC is based on second information comprising a second authentication key stored by the memory controller (Lee: Paragraph [0048]. Both the host and the data storage device (at least under control of the memory controller) store the authentication key.).
With regard to claim 4, Lee discloses wherein the first information comprises at least one of an address, a nonce, a block count, and a write counter (Lee: Figure 7).
With regard to claim 5, Lee discloses, wherein the memory controller is further configured to perform operations comprising: determining whether an address and a block count of the first information corresponding to the RPMB portion in the read request corresponds to a valid region for the RPMB portion, wherein determining whether the read request is valid is based on determining the address and the block count corresponds to a valid region of the memory module for the RPMB portion (Lee: Paragraphs [0141], [0193], and [0215]. The read operation utilizes several pieces of information, including the block count and address, where the read request would clearly only be able to be performed if this information indicates a valid region of the memory module for the RPMB portion, with a successful access resulting from a determination that the information indicates a valid region to provide the read information.).
With regard to claim 6, Lee discloses wherein the memory controller is further configured to perform operations comprising: transmitting an authentication failure response to the host device based on the determining whether the read request is valid (Lee: Paragraph [0128]).
With regard to claim 7, Lee discloses, wherein the memory controller is further configured to perform operations comprising: not transmitting the requested data to the host device until after determining whether the read request is valid (Lee: Paragraphs [0128], [0141], [0193], and [0215]. Lee discloses that a request may fail, where one of ordinary skill in the art would have recognized that an invalid read request would result in the requested information not being transmitted, with Lee instead providing failure information.).
With regard to claim 10, Lee discloses wherein determining the second message authentication code comprises determining a HMAC SHA-256 value based on a first address, a nonce, a block count, and a write counter in the first information and based on an authentication key stored by the memory controller (Lee: Paragraphs [0048], [0212], [0210], and [0215]).
With regard to claims 11-17 and 21-22, the instant claims are directed towards subject matter found within claims 1-7, and are rejected for similar reasons.
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) 8, 18, and 23 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee.
With regard to claim 8, Lee fails to disclose, but knowledge possessed by one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing teaches wherein the requested data comprises at least one of a user identifier, a password, a digital rights management (DRM) key, a file system key, or a rollback version of a computer program product (More specifically, RPMB was known to store critical security and integrity data using the enhanced protection provided by RPMB, where Official Notice is taken that the storage of each of the listed items (where the instant claim only requires one of the listed items to teach the instant claim, as a whole), with the subsequent reading utilizing a read request, was known to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of filing.). Accordingly, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to store at least one of a user identifier, a password, a digital rights management (DRM) key, a file system key, or a rollback version of a computer program product in the RPMB of Lee to provide the enhanced protection of RPMB for these different data items according to the wishes of the users. As a note, the functionality of the instant claim does not appear to be impacted by the specific type of requested data, where this would appear to amount to the intended use of the RPMB, with the RPMB of Lee being fully capable of storing any type data (including at least these listed types of data) desired by the users of the system.
With regard to claims 18 and 23, the instant claims are similar to claim 8, and are rejected for similar reasons.
Conclusion
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SCOTT B. CHRISTENSEN
Examiner
Art Unit 2444
/SCOTT B CHRISTENSEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2444
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