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 .
Specification
The abstract of the disclosure is objected to because the abstract contains phrases that should be avoided such as “the present disclosure”. A corrected abstract of the disclosure is required and must be presented on a separate sheet, apart from any other text. See MPEP § 608.01(b).
Applicant is reminded of the proper language and format for an abstract of the disclosure.
The abstract should be in narrative form and generally limited to a single paragraph on a separate sheet within the range of 50 to 150 words in length. The abstract should describe the disclosure sufficiently to assist readers in deciding whether there is a need for consulting the full patent text for details.
The language should be clear and concise and should not repeat information given in the title. It should avoid using phrases which can be implied, such as, “The disclosure concerns,” “The disclosure defined by this invention,” “The disclosure describes,” etc. In addition, the form and legal phraseology often used in patent claims, such as “means” and “said,” should be avoided.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claim 15 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to non-statutory subject matter. Regarding claim 15, does not fall within at least one of the four categories of patent eligible subject matter because claim 15 recites a computer program comprising components which may be interpreted as software. For example, the applicant recites “A computer program stored in a medium for executing, in combination with hardware, the method of claim 8”. The computer program stored in a medium can be broadly interpreted as software. The specification does not mention a medium. The specification does not limit the interpretation of these components as hardware embodiments.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claim 15 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention.
Claim 15 recite “A computer program stored in a medium for executing, in combination with hardware, the method of claim 8”. The specification has no support of a computer program stored in a medium. Nowhere in the specification mentions a medium, especially a computer program stored in a medium.
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 4, 6, 11 and 13 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.
Re. claims 4, 6, 11 and 13; the claims recite “pre-defined distances (hops)”. Unclear if hops is an acronym for “pre-defined distances” or a grammar issue. According to Figure 7, hops should be used in the claim instead of having the word “hops” between parentheses, the claim should be written as “distance of n hops” as stated in Figure 7.
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.
Claims 1-15 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Dervisevic et al. (“Quantum Key Distribution Networks Key Management: A Survey”, hereinafter Dervisevic).
Re. claim 1, Dervisevic discloses a quantum cryptography service apparatus (Dervisevic discloses Key Management System (KMS) [Page 5]) comprising: a memory comprising instructions; and a processor configured to (Dervisevic discloses processor and memory [Pages 9 and 13]generate, by executing the instructions, for all key managers in a quantum key management layer (Dervisevic discloses Key management sits in the middle of the layers of the QKD network architecture as illustrated in Figure 3 [Page 5]), an adjacent quantum key shared with other key managers directly connected to each key manager (Dervisevic discloses the source node generates a random secret transmitted to the destination. The random secret, known as a global key, is One-Time-Pad (OTP) encrypted between each pair of trusted-repeater nodes using local keys [Page 2] Fig. 1b), and, when a pair of specific key managers not directly connected to each other are determined from connection status between key managers (Dervisevic discloses Assuming intermediate nodes are trusted and the random key is a genuinely random sequence of bits, the source and distant destination nodes establish an ITS global key [Page 2]), generate a preliminary quantum key shared between the pair of specific key managers through a quantum key relay that consumes key manager-specific adjacent quantum keys connecting the pair of specific key managers before a quantum cryptography service request occurs in the service layer (Dervisevic discloses global key distribution allows peers to establish keys even if a QKD link does not directly connect them. Two other global key distribution options: distribution with XORs uniformly processed at the destination node and distribution with XORs collected at a single centralized node. A node may distribute enough global keys (for a given destination) in advance to meet demands [2.3 Global key distribution][Page 7]. Secret key exchange, which are performed relatively on demand, QKD requires a significant time window and is thus performed in advance regardless of demand on cryptographic keys [2.1 Secure Key Storage][Page 6] Fig. 3 shows key relay).
Re. claim 2, Dervisevic discloses the quantum cryptography service apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to, when a quantum cryptography service request occurs, transmit a preliminary quantum key or a quantum key generated through a quantum key relay that consumes a preliminary quantum key as a service quantum key for an end-to-end quantum cryptography service of a service node (Dervisevic discloses global key distribution allows peers to establish keys even if a QKD link does not directly connect them. Two other global key distribution options: distribution with XORs uniformly processed at the destination node and distribution with XORs collected at a single centralized node. A node may distribute enough global keys (for a given destination) in advance to meet demands [2.3 Global key distribution][Page 7]).
Re. claim 3, Dervisevic discloses the quantum cryptography service apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to, for all key managers in the quantum key management layer, generate preliminary quantum keys shared with all other key managers, respectively, that are not directly connected to each key manager (Dervisevic discloses global key distribution allows peers to establish keys even if a QKD link does not directly connect them. Two other global key distribution options: distribution with XORs uniformly processed at the destination node and distribution with XORs collected at a single centralized node. A node may distribute enough global keys (for a given destination) in advance to meet demands [2.3 Global key distribution][Page 7]).
Re. claim 4, Dervisevic discloses the quantum cryptography service apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to generate a preliminary quantum key between a pair of key managers at pre-defined distances (hops) in the quantum key management layer (Dervisevic discloses Hop by Hop global key distribution Fig. 1b [Page 2] [2.3 Global key distribution][Page 7][Page 11][Page 13]).
Re. claim 5, Dervisevic discloses the quantum cryptography service apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to generate preliminary quantum keys between all pairs of key managers directly connected to service nodes of the service layer in the quantum key management layer (Dervisevic discloses global key distribution allows peers to establish keys even if a QKD link does not directly connect them. Two other global key distribution options: distribution with XORs uniformly processed at the destination node and distribution with XORs collected at a single centralized node. A node may distribute enough global keys (for a given destination) in advance to meet demands [2.3 Global key distribution][Page 7]. Fig. 1b).
Re. claim 6, Dervisevic discloses the quantum cryptography service apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to generate a preliminary quantum key between a pair of key managers directly connected to service nodes at pre-defined distances (hops) between service nodes in the service layer (Dervisevic discloses Hop by Hop global key distribution Fig. 1b [Page 2] [2.3 Global key distribution][Page 7][Page 11][Page 13]).
Re. claim 7, Dervisevic discloses the quantum cryptography service apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to generate a preliminary quantum key for a pair of key managers that make the number of quantum key relays using preliminary quantum keys less than a threshold value when generating quantum keys between any pair of key managers in the quantum key management layer (Dervisevic discloses global key distribution allows peers to establish keys even if a QKD link does not directly connect them. Two other global key distribution options: distribution with XORs uniformly processed at the destination node and distribution with XORs collected at a single centralized node. A node may distribute enough global keys (for a given destination) in advance to meet demands [2.3 Global key distribution][Page 7]. A refill procedure is initiated when the amount of key material in one of the buffers falls below a certain threshold [3.4 QCC security processor key manager, Page 13] the QCC key manager applies thresholds to a session-based approach. Suppose the number of keys in the application's dedicated buffer falls below a threshold value. In that case, new keys, if available, are assigned promptly so that the application does not experience interruptions in key supply. Similarly, the Cisco key manager defines a threshold value that causes new keys to be pulled from the QKD devices. Threshold values can be assigned to global key storage, as in NKP's DDKA-QKDN scheme [4.3 Secure key storage and key formatting, Page 25] Table 3 shows Threshold value to start global key distribution).
Re. claim 8, claim 8 is rejected with the same rationale as applied in claim 1 above.
Re. claim 9, rejection of claim 8 is included and claim 9 is rejected with the same rationale as applied in claim 2 above.
Re. claim 10, rejection of claim 8 is included and claim 10 is rejected with the same rationale as applied in claim 3 above.
Re. claim 11, rejection of claim 8 is included and claim 11 is rejected with the same rationale as applied in claim 4 above.
Re. claim 12, rejection of claim 8 is included and claim 12 is rejected with the same rationale as applied in claim 5 above.
Re. claim 13, rejection of claim 8 is included and claim 13 is rejected with the same rationale as applied in claim 6 above.
Re. claim 14, rejection of claim 8 is included and claim 14 is rejected with the same rationale as applied in claim 8 above.
Re. claim 15, claim 15 is rejected with the same rationale as applied in claim 1 above.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. CN 114697011 discloses improving the quality of quantum key relay services.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KEVIN A AYALA whose telephone number is (571)270-3912. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Thursday 8AM-5PM; Friday: Variable EST.
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/KEVIN AYALA/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2496
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