DETAILED ACTION
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 by applicant dated 05/06/2025 has been considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 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.
Claims 1-5 and 8-10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Rao et al. US 2024/0202340 (hereinafter Rao), in view of Grider et al. USPN 5,515,540 (hereinafter Grider), and Asbe et al. US 2025/0053659 (hereinafter Asbe).
As per claim 1, Rao teaches an electronic device, comprising: a memory, configured to store a bootloader and an image (Rao paragraph [0032], [0041]-[0044], stored bootloader and an image);
a control device, configured to read and execute the bootloader to perform operations of: determining whether the storage device stores a first hash value of the image (Rao paragraph [0032], [0064], [0068], execute bootloader and obtain digest from register);
when the storage device stores the first hash value of the image, verifying the first hash value (Rao paragraph [0068], compare the obtain digest from the register with a previously calculated digest); and
when the verification of the first hash value is successful, executing a firmware in the image (Rao paragraph [0068], [0082], when the digest matches the secure boot process continues and executes the image).
Rao does not explicitly disclose a storage device, powered by a battery dedicated to the storage device.
Grider teaches a storage device, powered by a battery dedicated to the storage device (Grider abstract, col 7 lines 35-45, battery powered registers).
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Rao of having registers storing data such as digests with the teachings of Grider to include battery powered registers because the results would have been predictable and resulted in a battery for the registers. It would have also been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Rao of having registers storing data such as digests with the teachings of Grider to include detecting tampering and wiping the registers in order to protect the digests stored in the registers from malicious entities by deleting the digests when tampering occurs.
Rao in view of Grider does not explicitly disclose executing a firmware in the image.
Asbe teaches executing a firmware in the image (Asbe paragraph [0027], [0098], execute firmware).
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Rao in view of Grider of executing an image with the teachings of Asbe to include executing firmware because the results would have been predictable and resulted in having an image comprising firmware data and executing the firmware data.
As per claim 2, Rao in view of Grider and Asbe teaches the electronic device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the storage device is a register (Rao paragraph [0068], register).
As per claim 3, Rao in view of Grider and Asbe teaches the electronic device as claimed in claim 1, wherein only the bootloader can read from or write to the storage device (Rao paragraph [0032], [0064], [0067]-[0068], execute bootloader and read/write to register).
As per claim 4, Rao in view of Grider and Asbe teaches the electronic device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the control device is further configured to perform operations of: detecting a tamper event; and when the tamper event is detected, erase the storage device (Rao Fig 1; Grider abstract, col 1 line 60 – col 2 line 10, detect tamper and wipe registers)
As per claim 5, Rao in view of Grider and Asbe teaches the electronic device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the control device is further configured to perform operations of: when the verification of the first hash value is successful, executing the firmware without verifying a firmware signature in the image (Rao paragraph [0068], [0082], when the digest matches the secure boot process continues and executes the image; Asbe paragraph [0027], [0098], execute firmware)
As per claims 8-10, the claims claim a method essentially corresponding to the device claims 1-3 above, and they are rejected, at least for the same reasons.
Claims 6-7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Rao in view of Grider and Asbe, and further in view of Hong et al. US 2023/0281312 (hereinafter Hong).
As per claim 6, Rao in view of Grider and Asbe teaches the electronic device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the control device is further configured to perform operations of: inputting the image into a secure hash algorithm to obtain a second hash value; comparing the first hash value and the second hash value; and when the first hash value is equal to the second hash value, determining that the verification of the first hash value is successful (Rao paragraph [0053]-[0054], [0067]-[0068], generating digest of the image and compare the generated digest with a previously generated digest).
Rao in view of Grider and Asbe does not explicitly disclose image comprising firmware, a firmware public key, a firmware signature, and a firmware hash value of the firmware.
Hong teaches image comprising firmware, a firmware public key, a firmware signature, and a firmware hash value of the firmware (Hong paragraph [0006], image comprises firmware data, firmware public key, firmware signature and firmware fingerprint).
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Rao in view of Grider and Asbe of calculating a digest of an image with the teachings of Hong to include an image comprising firmware data, firmware public key, firmware signature and firmware fingerprint because the results would have been predictable and resulted in the image comprising firmware data, firmware public key, firmware signature and firmware fingerprint and calculating the digest using those data.
As per claim 7, Rao in view of Grider and Asbe teaches the electronic device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the control device is further configured to perform operations of: when the storage device doesn't store the first hash value of the image, inputting the image into a secure hash algorithm to obtain a second hash value; and storing the second hash value into the storage device (Rao paragraph [0053], [0064], [0067], start/restart the computing device, generate digest of the image and store the digest in register; Grider abstract, col 7 lines 35-45, volatile memory and internal registers) (It is obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art that volatile memory is cleared when the system shuts-down, reboots, etc. Therefore, when the computing device starts/restarts the register doesn’t store the digest).
Rao in view of Grider and Asbe does not explicitly disclose image comprising firmware, a firmware public key, a firmware signature, and a firmware hash value of the firmware.
Hong teaches image comprising firmware, a firmware public key, a firmware signature, and a firmware hash value of the firmware (Hong paragraph [0006], image comprises firmware data, firmware public key, firmware signature and firmware fingerprint).
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the invention of Rao in view of Grider and Asbe of calculating a digest of an image with the teachings of Hong to include an image comprising firmware data, firmware public key, firmware signature and firmware fingerprint because the results would have been predictable and resulted in the image comprising firmware data, firmware public key, firmware signature and firmware fingerprint and calculating the digest using those data.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to HENRY TSANG whose telephone number is (571)270-7959. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 9am - 5pm EST.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Farid Homayounmehr can be reached at (571) 272-3739. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/HENRY TSANG/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2495
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