Detailed Action
This is a Non-final Office action in response to communications received on 5/2/2025. Claims 1-21 are pending and are examined.
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 .
Drawings
The drawings, filed 5/22/2025 and 6/3/2025, are acknowledged.
Preliminary Amendment
The preliminary amendment, filed 6/3/2025, is acknowledged.
Provisional Priority
The provisional priority date of 6/5/2023 is acknowledged.
Double Patenting
The nonstatutory double patenting rejection is based on a judicially created doctrine grounded in public policy (a policy reflected in the statute) so as to prevent the unjustified or improper timewise extension of the “right to exclude” granted by a patent and to prevent possible harassment by multiple assignees. A nonstatutory double patenting rejection is appropriate where the conflicting claims are not identical, but at least one examined application claim is not patentably distinct from the reference claim(s) because the examined application claim is either anticipated by, or would have been obvious over, the reference claim(s). See, e.g., In re Berg, 140 F.3d 1428, 46 USPQ2d 1226 (Fed. Cir. 1998); In re Goodman, 11 F.3d 1046, 29 USPQ2d 2010 (Fed. Cir. 1993); In re Longi, 759 F.2d 887, 225 USPQ 645 (Fed. Cir. 1985); In re Van Ornum, 686 F.2d 937, 214 USPQ 761 (CCPA 1982); In re Vogel, 422 F.2d 438, 164 USPQ 619 (CCPA 1970); In re Thorington, 418 F.2d 528, 163 USPQ 644 (CCPA 1969).
A timely filed terminal disclaimer in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(c) or 1.321(d) may be used to overcome an actual or provisional rejection based on nonstatutory double patenting provided the reference application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with the examined application, or claims an invention made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement. See MPEP § 717.02 for applications subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA as explained in MPEP § 2159. See MPEP § 2146 et seq. for applications not subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . A terminal disclaimer must be signed in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(b).
The USPTO Internet website contains terminal disclaimer forms which may be used. Please visit www.uspto.gov/patent/patents-forms. The filing date of the application in which the form is filed determines what form (e.g., PTO/SB/25, PTO/SB/26, PTO/AIA /25, or PTO/AIA /26) should be used. A web-based eTerminal Disclaimer may be filled out completely online using web-screens. An eTerminal Disclaimer that meets all requirements is auto-processed and approved immediately upon submission. For more information about eTerminal Disclaimers, refer to www.uspto.gov/patents/process/file/efs/guidance/eTD-info-I.jsp.
Claims 1-21 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1-7 and 12 of U.S. Patent No. US 12348640 B2 (Yassin). Claims 1-7 if the instant application are presented below as exemplary comparisons, with claims 8-21 containing substantially similar limitations. Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because the claims of the present application are taught by the use of synonyms and change of limitation order from the patent identified above.
Application 19/215,816
Patent No. US 12348640 B2
1. A method for creating and validating an immutable digital testimony: activating one or more cameras associated with a device having a device identifier;
capturing media through the one or more cameras of the device to generate stream media; during generation of the stream media: hashing one or more frames of the stream media using a hashing scheme to create a plurality of stream hashes;
forming, by the device, a live stream hash from the plurality of stream hashes;
transmitting the stream media to at least one of: a cloud server to form cloud media, or local storage on the device to form local media;
validating the stream media by: forming at least one of: a cloud media hash from the cloud media using the hashing scheme, or a local symbiotic hash from the local media using the hashing scheme; and
comparing the live stream hash against at least one of: the cloud media hash, or the local symbiotic hash; and upon confirming the comparison of the live stream hash matches the cloud media hash or the local symbiotic hash, correspondingly: creating an immutable digital testimony hash, and recording the immutable digital testimony hash on a blockchain.
1. A method for creating an immutable digital testimony, …
…activating one or more cameras associated with the device…
…a device (1110) having an immutable digital testimony device identifier (ID), wherein the immutable digital testimony device ID is a unique identifier of the device (2102)
generate immutable digital testimony stream media (3120), hashing one or more frames of the immutable digital testimony stream media for the one or more cameras by applying a selected immutable digital testimony hashing scheme from a plurality of hashing schemes, thereby creating one or more immutable digital testimony stream hashes
forming a live stream hash (3130, 3133) from the one or more immutable digital testimony stream hashes
transmitting the immutable digital testimony stream media and the selected immutable digital testimony hashing scheme by the device to a cloud server
2…forming a local symbiotic hash (3150, 3153) from the one or more immutable digital testimony local hashes; sending (39020), by the device to a smart contract, the local symbiotic hash for validating against the live stream hash
4…comparing, by the smart contract, the live stream hash, the local symbiotic hash, and the cloud media hash, and if a) the live stream hash mirrors the local symbiotic hash and b) the live stream hash mirrors the cloud media hash (3333): creating, by the smart contract, an immutable digital testimony hash by hashing the immutable digital testimony ID, the one or more immutable digital testimony cloud addresses, the immutable digital testimony metadata, the one or more immutable digital testimony DFS addresses, and the live stream hash (3380), recording, by the smart contract: the immutable digital testimony ID, the one or more immutable digital testimony cloud addresses, the immutable digital testimony metadata, the one or more immutable digital testimony DFS addresses, the immutable digital testimony hash, the live stream hash on the immutable digital testimony authentication blockchain
2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: encrypting the stream media to create encrypted media; transmitting the encrypted media to a distributed file system; receiving distributed file system addresses indicating storage locations of the encrypted media; and recording the distributed file system addresses on the blockchain.
1…encrypting the immutable digital testimony live stream media (3148) thereby creating encrypted immutable digital testimony live stream media, the encrypted immutable digital testimony live stream media being at least a portion of the immutable digital testimony stream media, sending to the DFS the encrypted immutable digital testimony live stream media (39100) to save the encrypted immutable digital testimony live stream media, receiving (39015) one or more immutable digital testimony DFS addresses, wherein each of the one or more immutable digital testimony DFS addresses corresponds to a location at which the encrypted immutable digital testimony live stream media has been saved, and saving the immutable digital testimony stream media on the device to create immutable digital testimony local media
3. The method of claim 1, further comprising: sending, by the device to a smart contract, the live stream hash for validation;
creating, by the smart contract, an immutable digital testimony identifier; and
recording the immutable digital testimony identifier on the blockchain.
3…forming a cloud media hash (3313) from the one or more immutable digital testimony cloud hashes; and sending (39040), by the cloud server to the smart contract, the cloud media hash for validating against the live stream hash
4…recording, by the smart contract: the immutable digital testimony ID, the one or more immutable digital testimony cloud addresses, the immutable digital testimony metadata, the one or more immutable digital testimony DFS addresses, the immutable digital testimony hash, the live stream hash on the immutable digital testimony authentication blockchain
4. The method of claim 1, wherein upon confirming either: the live stream hash matches the cloud media hash, or the live stream hash matches the local symbiotic hash, using a smart contract to: record a plurality of user permissions on an authentication blockchain;
send the user permissions to an orchestrator to create a log entry indicating access rights;
grant viewing permission for the immutable digital testimony to any one of (i) a creator, (ii) a requestor, or (iii) both the creator and the requestor; and
periodically validate authenticity using the immutable digital testimony hash recorded on a public blockchain.
4…recording, by the smart contract: the immutable digital testimony ID, the one or more immutable digital testimony cloud addresses, the immutable digital testimony metadata, the one or more immutable digital testimony DFS addresses, the immutable digital testimony hash, the live stream hash on the immutable digital testimony authentication blockchain (3334), and user permissions on an immutable digital testimony authentication blockchain
5…granting, by the smart contract to a requestor, viewing permission to an immutable digital testimony corresponding to the immutable digital testimony ID and registering the viewing permission on an immutable digital testimony authentication blockchain and the immutable digital testimony orchestrator
6. The method according to claim 4, further comprising: periodically validating and authenticating the immutable digital testimony authentication blockchain, using the immutable digital testimony hash recorded on the public blockchain
5. The method of claim 1, wherein upon determining either: the live stream hash and cloud media hash do not match, or the live stream hash and local symbiotic hash do not match, using a smart contract to: create an alternate immutable digital testimony identifier; create an alternate immutable digital testimony hash using the local media; record the alternate immutable digital testimony hash on the authentication blockchain; create an alternate immutable digital testimony based on the local media; record a plurality of alternate addresses for the alternate immutable digital testimony; and provide notification that the stream media was corrupted during transmission.
7. The method according to claim 3, further comprising: if a) the live stream hash and the local symbiotic hash do not match or b) the live stream hash and a cloud media hash do not match: creating an alternate immutable digital testimony (3180) by saving (3190) the immutable digital testimony local media to a distributed file system (DFS) (39500) and the cloud server (39511) and retrieving the one or more alternate immutable digital testimony DFS addresses (39510) and the one or more alternate immutable digital testimony cloud addresses (39512), correspondingly, and providing a notification, by the smart contract, that the immutable digital testimony stream media was corrupted during the transmission or storage process (39050).
6. The method of claim 1, further comprising: creating an immutable digital testimony trail associated with the immutable digital testimony by: identifying, during a user-determined timeframe prior to creating the immutable digital testimony, third-party immutable digital testimonies and cameras along a path taken by a user of the device; creating, by an immutable digital testimony orchestrator, a map displaying: the path taken by the user, locations of the identified third-party immutable digital testimonies, and locations of the identified cameras; sending the map to the device for display; recording on the blockchain: an association between the immutable digital testimony trail and the immutable digital testimony, identifiers of the identified third-party immutable digital testimonies and cameras, and geodata indicating the path taken by the user.
12. A method according to claim 4, further comprising: creating an immutable digital testimony trail that identifies immutable digital testimony created along a path, by: creating, by an immutable digital testimony orchestrator (1210), a map of an immutable digital testimony trail (3230) by identifying (i) one or more third-party immutable digital testimonies, (ii) one or more cameras, or (iii) a combination of both (i) and (ii), each along a path taken by a user during a user-predetermined time prior to an immutable digital testimony creation (6205); identifying and visually indicating a location of (i) the one or more third-party immutable digital testimonies, (ii) the one or more cameras, or (iii) a combination of both (i) and (ii) (6220); sending the map of the immutable digital testimony trail to a device of a creator of immutable digital testimony, the map to be associated with the immutable digital testimony local media stored on the device of the creator (69100, 6210); and recording on the immutable digital testimony authentication blockchain (69200), by the immutable digital testimony orchestrator: the immutable digital testimony trail associated with (i) an immutable digital testimony identifier (ID) and (ii) immutable digital testimony geodata, each associated with the creator of the immutable digital testimony local media, and one or more of an immutable digital testimony identifier corresponding to (i) the one or more third-party immutable digital testimonies, (ii) the one or more cameras, or (iii) both (i) and (ii), correspondingly.
7. The method of claim 1, wherein validating the stream media further comprises: comparing the live stream hash to both the cloud media hash and the local symbiotic hash; and upon confirming that the live stream hash matches both the cloud media hash and the local symbiotic hash, creating and recording the immutable digital testimony hash on the blockchain.
4…recording, by the smart contract: the immutable digital testimony ID, the one or more immutable digital testimony cloud addresses, the immutable digital testimony metadata, the one or more immutable digital testimony DFS addresses, the immutable digital testimony hash, the live stream hash on the immutable digital testimony authentication blockchain (3334), and user permissions on an immutable digital testimony authentication blockchain
Prior Art Considered But Not Relied Upon
Tormasov (US 20180121635 A1) which teaches a video processing module which receives data from a blockchain network in order to form a unique identifier which may be used to watermark a video or video stream by embedding a video hash into the content.
Diehl (US 20190102782 A1) which teaches a method of processing a genuine instance of a digital good generating a unique identifier as a one-way hash of a token seed for the digital good. Possession of said digital goods tracked in a blockchain ledger.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to BLAKE ISAAC NARRAMORE whose telephone number is (303)297-4357. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday - Friday 0700-1700 MT.
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/BLAKE I NARRAMORE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2438
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