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 .
Claims 1-8 and 10 are pending in this application.
Claims 1-8 and 10 are amended as part of preliminary amendment.
Claim 9 is canceled as part of the preliminary amendment.
No IDS was filed by the Applicant.
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.
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claims 1-4, 7-8 an d10 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee et al. (US 2023/0156424 A1) (hereinafter, “Lee”) in view of Bruckner (US 2023/0219525 A1) and in view of Chafer et al. (US 2024/0242227 A1) (hereinafter, “Chafer”).
Claim 1, Lee discloses a method for communication between a vehicle … key casing and a vehicle, the key casing and the vehicle being configured to communicate using the BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) and NFC (Near Field Communication) communication protocols (“WCC2: An NFC technology and a BLE technology may be used (NFC+RKE functions may be used)” -e.g., see, [0226]; see also: “WCC3: An NFC technology, a BLE technology, and a UWB technology may be used (NFC+RKE functions+passive/location-based functions may be used).” -e.g., see, [0227]; see also: “… an owner pairing process may be triggered if a vehicle 300 initiates owner pairing connection establishment, or may be triggered if the vehicle 300 enters a vehicle system menu of an electronic device 101 to initiate owner pairing. In an embodiment, owner pairing initiation by the electronic device 101 may be performed through a UI.” -e.g., see, [0219]; see also: [0218]; herein, Lee’s digital key device and vehicle both uses NFC and BLE; Lee’s electronic device that performs digital key/RKE functions is a credential device corresponds to key casing as vehicle access credential), the method comprising:
pairing of the key casing and the vehicle according to the NFC communication protocol (“… an owner pairing process may be triggered if a vehicle 300 initiates owner pairing connection establishment, or may be triggered if the vehicle 300 enters a vehicle system menu of an electronic device 101 to initiate owner pairing. In an embodiment, owner pairing initiation by the electronic device 101 may be performed through a UI.” -e.g., see, [0219]; see also: “WCC2: An NFC technology and a BLE technology may be used (NFC+RKE functions may be used)” -e.g., see, [0226]; herein, Owner pairing over NFC is pairing according to the NFC protocol);
exchanging, using the NFC communication protocol, a BLE key … (“… In the owner pairing phase 2 operation, both the electronic device 101 and the vehicle 300 may perform an SPAKE2+ flow to derive system keys and derive out-of-band (OOB) BLE keys. In the owner pairing phase 2 operation, both the electronic device 101 and the vehicle 300 may derive (or obtain) UWB solution specific keys, as well as the system keys and the OOB BLE keys. In an embodiment, the UWB solution specific keys may include Kble_oob_master and/or Kble_intro. In an embodiment, Kble_oob_master may be a shared secret key between the electronic device 101 and the vehicle 300 used for deriving Kble_oob for encrypting OOB pairing data during a first approach process.” -e.g., see, [0224]; herein, An OOB BLE key (Kble_oob_master) shared between the credential device and the vehicle is a BLE key. Deriving/exchanging it in an owner pairing flow that includes NFC is exchanging a BLE key using NFC as the out-of-bank/pairing path); and
setting-up a BLE communication … using the exchanged BLE key (“… establish, via the communication module, a first Bluetooth low energy (BLE) connection with an external electronic device.” -e.g., see, [0012]; see also: “… the vehicle 300, the command complete subevent PDU including the Bluetooth LE pairing ready subevent notification, a Bluetooth LE pairing procedure and an encryption setup procedure (Bluetooth LE pairing & encryption setup procedure) may be performed between the electronic device 101 and the vehicle 300 in operation 923. In an embodiment, the BLE pairing procedure and the encryption setup procedure may enable sharing of data between the electronic device 101 and the vehicle 300 to enable BLE secure pairing.” -e.g., see, [0230]; herein, BLE connection/LE pairing that uses the derived OOB BLE keys is setting up BLE communication using the exchanged BLE key).
Lee’s credential is a phone class digital key, not a “vehicle remote control key casing”; Lee derives OOB BLE keys; it doesn’t explicitly exchange the BLE key over NFC communication between one end (the key casing) and other (the vehicle).
However, in an analogous art, Bruckner discloses a vehicle remote control key casing configured to communicate using the BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) and NFC (Near Field Communication) communication protocols (“… the control unit in the vehicle radio key is designed to activate the BLE system based on at least one BLE connection request signal, to establish a BLE data connection to the transportation vehicle, and to transmit BLE data signals via the BLE data connection. A BLE data connection may be established on at least one of the 37 data channels prescribed by the standard, to which a switch may be made after the BLE advertising signal and the BLE connection request signal have been exchanged on an advertising channel.” -e.g., see, Bruckner: [0042]; see also: “… the disclosed electronic vehicle radio key may have at least one NFC transceiver with at least one antenna and a secure element, particularly an eSE. The NFC transceiver can be operated by electromagnetically transmitted energy received by the antenna and is therefore independent of an internal power supply of the key. This energy is optionally transmitted by an NFC communication unit of a disclosed transportation vehicle. The safe element of the vehicle radio key may be also connected or can be connected to the BLE transceiver. Authentication data stored in the secure element and/or data suitable for generating or verifying the authentication data, such as cryptographic software, cryptographic data and/or cryptographic keys, can thus be exchanged via NFC and BLE for the purpose of authentication.” -e.g., see, Bruckner: [0044]; herein, Bruckner’s “electronic vehicle radio key” corresponds to the claimed vehicle remote control key casing; the “transportation vehicle” corresponds to the claimed vehicle; and the BLE and NFC transceivers corresponds to the claimed BLE and NFC communication protocols; Bruckner further teaches exchanging cryptographic keys by NFC and subsequently establishing BLE communication with the vehicle. Bruckner also teaches that cryptographic keys may be stored in the secure element of the electronic vehicle radio key);
Bruckner further discloses pairing …according to the NFC communications protocol (“The NFC transceiver 75 of the electronic vehicle radio key 3 does not require an additional energy supply from a key battery, but can be supplied with energy via an NFC system 70 of the transportation vehicle 1. The NFC module 74 thus allows access to the transportation vehicle 1 even when the key battery is discharged.” -e.g., see, [0092]; see also: “The NFC signals can be exchanged with the smartphone 2 and/or the electronic vehicle radio key 3 via an NFC antenna 72. The NFC system also comprises a secure element 73, such as an electronic secure element (eSE).” -e.g., see, [0082]; herein, NFC coupling to the vehicle NFC system is NFC pairing);
setting up a BLE communication … (“The BLE data signals may contain authentication data which is exchanged between the electronic vehicle radio key and the device connected to it, in particular, the transportation vehicle. The authentication data and/or data suitable for generating or verifying the authentication data, such as cryptographic software, cryptographic data and/or cryptographic keys, may be stored on a secure element of the electronic vehicle radio key, optionally in an “electronic Secure Element”, eSE.” -e.g., see, Bruckner: [0065]; herein establishing BLE data connection that carries authentication; cryptographic keys data is setting up BLE using a shared key).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention was to modify the teaching of Lee with the additional feature of Bruckner in order to let user keep a dedicated remote control key (Bruckner) while still using NFC to BLE owner pairing instead of typing a BLE confirmation code.
Lee in view Bruckner teaches having a vehicle radio key (e.g., vehicle remote control key casing) with NFC, BLE and OOB BLE key material, Lee in view of Bruckner doesn’t explicitly disclose transmitting the BLE key itself over the NFC and then pairing/setting BLE with that transmitted key.
However, in analogous art, Chafer discloses pairing … according to the NFC communication protocol (“The cardholder 100 “taps” SE card 101 on the smartphone 103, step 601. NFC operates in a range of less than 4 cm. Thus, a tap places the SE card 101 and smartphone 103 within this range. The tap establishes an NFC channel 603 from the secure element 107 to the smartphone 103.” -e.g., see, Chafer: [0055]; herein, NFC tap that opens the first protocol link is NFC pairing);
exchanging, using the NFC communication protocol, a BLE key … (“A secure link is established on a second protocol, which may be Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), between a secure element and a smart device via a link on a second protocol, which may be Near-Field Communication (NFC).” -e.g., see, [0011]; see also: “The first short-range communication channel 108 may be used to transmit a communication encryption key from the secure element 107 to the smartphone 103 such that communications between the secure element 107 and the smartphone 103 on the second short-range communication channel 109 may be encrypted.” -e.g., see, [0030]; see also: “The communication encryption key transferred over the NFC channel is used to secure a subsequent BLE communication when the smartphone 103 is paired with the secure element 107 to establish a BLE channel between the two by encrypting messages transmitted between the secure element 107” -e.g., see, [0054]; herein, the communication encryption key sent over NFC, and later used to secure BLE, is a BLE key exchanged using NFC);
setting -up a BLE communication … using the exchanged BLE key (“… the secure element 107 and the smartphone 103 are paired to create a BLE link between the two” -e.g., see, [0065]; see also: “A communication encryption key that is a candidate key is used to secure the BLE link communication between the secure element 107 and the smartphone 103 by encrypting messages sent on the link using the key.” -e.g., see, [0063]; herein, BLE pairing that uses the NFC delivered key is setting up BLE communication using the exchanged BLE key).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention was to modify the teaching of Lee and Bruckner with the additional feature of Chafer in order to reduce exposure of the BLE credential during initial provisioning while permitting the longer range BLE connection to be used thereafter.
As to claim 2, Lee in view of Bruckner and Chafer discloses the method according to claim 1,
Lee further discloses storing of the received BLE key in the non-volatile memory … (“… in the owner pairing phase 2 operation, the electronic device 101 may store at least one of Kble_oob_master, a Bluetooth random static address of the vehicle 300, or an identity resolving key (IRK) of the vehicle 300.” -e.g., see, [0228]).
Lee doesn’t explicitly disclose wherein the exchange of the BLE key comprising: sending, using the NFC communication protocol, the BLE key to the key casing by the vehicle; receiving of the sent BLE key by the key casing.
However, Bruckner discloses the key casing comprises a non-volatile memory (“… cryptographic data and/or cryptographic keys, are optionally stored in a secure element, particularly an eSE, of the electronic vehicle radio key.” -e.g., see, [0043]; herein, eSE is NVM in the key casing),
NFC send/receive with the vehicle (“The NFC signals can be exchanged with the smartphone 2 and/or the electronic vehicle radio key 3 via an NFC antenna 72. The NFC system also comprises a secure element 73, such as an electronic secure element (eSE).” -e.g., see, [0082]; herein, the vehicle NFC system can send data to the casing);
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention was to modify the teaching of Lee with the additional feature of Bruckner in order to let user keep a dedicated remote control key (Bruckner) while still using NFC to BLE owner pairing instead of typing a BLE confirmation code.
Lee in view of Bruckner doesn’t explicitly disclose putting the BLE key in that NFC payload.
However, Chafer discloses sending, using the NFC communication protocol, the BLE key to the key casing; receiving of the sent BLE key by the key casing (“… transmit a communication encryption key from the secure element 107 to the smartphone 103 such that communications between the secure element 107 and the smartphone 103” -e.g., see, [0030]; see also: “The NFC channel 603 maybe a one-way channel from the secure element 107 to the smartphone 103 allowing the smartphone 103 to read NFC data exchange formatted (NDEF) tags. The NDEF tags encapsulate a communication encryption key, from the secure element 107.” -e.g., see, [0056]; herein, one NFC endpoint sends the BLE/communication key; the other receives it. In the combined fob vehicle system, the vehicle is the sender (Lee already generates OOB BLE key material on the vehicle side; Bruckner’s vehicle NFC system is the radio) and the key casing is the receiver);
Chafer further discloses storing of the received BLE key in the non-volatile memory by the key casing (“The smartphone 103 stores the communication encryption key from the last tap operation as a candidate key in persistent memory, for example, the NVM 505, step 607. A candidate key is a communications encryption key that has been received by the smartphone 103 from the secure element 107” -e.g., see, [0059]; see also: “The secure element 107 stores the last communication encryption key that it generates in response to the NFC tap event or may store a sequence of communication encryption keys if the SE card 101 (containing the secure element 107) is tapped multiple times against the smartphone 103” -e.g., see, [0062]; herein, the NFC key is written to NVM. Combined with Bruckner’s eSE, the casing stores the received BLE key in non-volatile memory).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention was to modify the teaching of Lee and Bruckner with the additional feature of Chafer in order to reduce exposure of the BLE credential during initial provisioning while permitting the longer range BLE connection to be used thereafter.
As to claim 3, Lee in view of Bruckner and Chafer discloses the method according to claim 2, Lee further discloses wherein exchanging the BLE key further comprises encrypting the BLE key before the BLE key is sent (“Kble_oob_master may be a shared secret key between the electronic device 101 and the vehicle 300 used for deriving Kble_oob for encrypting OOB pairing data during a first approach process.” -e.g., see, [0224]; herein, OOB pairing data including the BLE pairing material is encrypted before it is sent on the OOB/NFC path),
Lee doesn’t explicitly disclose wherein the stored BLE key is the encrypted BLE key. However, Bruckner discloses wherein the stored BLE key is the encrypted BLE key (“… cryptographic keys, are optionally stored in a secure element, particularly an eSE, of the electronic vehicle radio key.” -e.g., see, [0043]). Moreover, storing a key in an encrypted form is well known in the art.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention was to modify the teaching of Lee and Bruckner with the additional feature of Chafer in order to reduce exposure of the BLE credential during initial provisioning while permitting the longer range BLE connection to be used thereafter.
As to claim 4, Lee in view of Bruckner and Chafer discloses the method according to claim 2, Bruckner further discloses wherein sending the BLE key comprises sending a command to store the BLE key in the non-volatile memory, wherein the sent command is encrypted (“The secure element may contain access authorization data for a plurality of transportation vehicles 1, such as cryptographic software, cryptographic data and/or cryptographic keys.” -e.g., see, [0092]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention was to modify the teaching of Lee with the additional feature of Bruckner in order to let user keep a dedicated remote control key (Bruckner) while still using NFC to BLE owner pairing instead of typing a BLE confirmation code.
As to claim 7, Lee in view of Bruckner and Chafer discloses the method according to claim 1, Bruckner further discloses wherein the vehicle comprises a support, the pairing of the key casing and the vehicle for the NFC communication protocol comprising: placing of the key casing on the support of the vehicle (“The NFC transceiver 75 of the electronic vehicle radio key 3 does not require an additional energy supply from a key battery, but can be supplied with energy via an NFC system 70 of the transportation vehicle 1.” -e.g., see, [0092]; see also: “The NFC signals can be exchanged with the smartphone 2 and/or the electronic vehicle radio key 3 via an NFC antenna 72. The NFC system also comprises a secure element 73, such as an electronic secure element (eSE).” -e.g., see, [0082]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention was to modify the teaching of Lee with the additional feature of Bruckner in order to let user keep a dedicated remote control key (Bruckner) while still using NFC to BLE owner pairing instead of typing a BLE confirmation code.
As to claim 8, Lee discloses a non-transitory computer readable medium comprising a computer program for a key casing and/or vehicle system comprising instructions that, when the program is executed by a processor (Lee: [0034], [0040]), and further rejected using the similar rationale as for the rejection of claim 1.
As to claim 10, Lee in view of Bruckner and Chafer discloses a vehicle remote control key casing configured to perform BLE and NFC communications with a vehicle (Bruckner: [0042], [0044]), the key casing being configured to communicate with the vehicle and further rejected using the similar rationale as for the rejection of claim 1.
Claim 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee in view of Bruckner and Chafer as applied to claims 1-4 above, and further in view of Tyagi et al. (US 10,538,220 B1) (hereinafter, “Tyagi”).
As to claim 5, Lee in view of Bruckner and Chafer discloses the method according to claim 2, Lee in view of Bruckner and Chafer doesn’t explicitly disclose comprises: erasing the BLE key stored in a non-volatile memory.
However, in an analogous art, Tyagi discloses erasing the BLE key stored in a non-volatile memory (“… a cryptographic token (or virtual vehicle key) can be included in the BCM 26 as a part of the establishment step (step 310). This disassociation step can remove or delete that cryptographic token (or virtual vehicle key) from the memory of the BCM 26 (or other VSM). And, in some embodiments, the disassociation step can include removing BLE key data from the PEPS module 40 (or the BCM 26) of the vehicle 12.”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention was to modify the teaching of Lee, Bruckner and Chafer with the additional feature of Tyagi in order to make sure unpaired data or key doesn’t fall into an au authorized person.
Claim 6 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee in view of Bruckner and Chafer as applied to claim 1 above, and further in view of DeLong et al. (US 2024/0080765 A1) (hereinafter, “DeLong”).
As to claim 6, Lee in view of Bruckner and Chafer discloses the method according to claim 1,
Lee further discloses wherein the key casing comprises a BLE component and carrying out one or more BLE exchanges … using the read BLE key (“In the owner pairing phase 2 operation, both the electronic device 101 and the vehicle 300 may perform an SPAKE2+ flow to derive system keys and derive out-of-band (OOB) BLE keys. In the owner pairing phase 2 operation, both the electronic device 101 and the vehicle 300 may derive (or obtain) UWB solution specific keys, as well as the system keys and the OOB BLE keys.” -e.g., see, [0223]; see also: “ The signal or the power may then be transmitted or received between the communication module 190 and the external electronic device via the selected at least one antenna. According to an embodiment, another component (e.g., a radio frequency integrated circuit (RFIC)) other than the radiating element may be additionally formed as part of the antenna module 197.” -e.g., see, [0093]).
Lee in view of Bruckner and Chafer doesn’t explicitly disclose wherein setting-up the BLE communication comprises: waking of the BLE component; reading the BLE key exchanged by the woken BLE component; and carrying out one or more BLE exchanges between the key casing and the vehicle using the read BLE key.
However, in an analogous art, DeLong discloses wherein setting-up the BLE communication comprises: waking of the BLE component (“… the BLE wakeup receiver may receive a wakeup signal from the vehicle when the portable device is in a first predefined proximity range of the vehicle. Upon receipt of the wakeup signal, the BLE wakeup receiver may cause activation of the BLE transceiver, which may in turn activate the UWB transceiver.” -e.g., see, [0018]; see also: “… the BLE transceiver 222 and the key fob UWB transceiver 224 are in shutoff or deactivated state by default, to conserve power consumption in the portable device 204.” -e.g., see, [0044]);
reading the BLE key exchanged by the woken BLE component (“Upon the activation of the key fob BLE transceiver 222, the vehicle 202 may initiate a BLE ranging session with the key fob 204, to prevent relay attacks in the PEPS key system 200. In one aspect, the initiation of the BLE ranging session may involve exchange of private keys of the vehicle 202 and the key fob 204 and may be used to authenticate the key fob 204.” -e.g., see, [0071]); and
carrying out one or more BLE exchanges between the key casing and the vehicle using the read BLE key (“the initiation of the BLE ranging session may involve exchange of private keys of the vehicle 202 and the key fob 204 and may be used to authenticate the key fob 204.” -e.g., see, [0071]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the invention was to modify the teaching of Lee, Bruckner and Chafer with the additional feature of DeLong in order to reduce unnecessary operation of higher power communication circuitry while enabling the BLE communication when needed.
Conclusion
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SUMAN DEBNATH
Patent Examiner
Art Unit 2495
/S.D/Examiner, Art Unit 2495
/FARID HOMAYOUNMEHR/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2495
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