DETAILED ACTION
Claims 21-40 are pending. Claims 1-20 are canceled. This is in response to the application filed on June 13, 2025. This is a Continuation of 17/931192 filed on September 12, 2022, granted as Patent 12,341,820.
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 .
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 filing of a terminal disclaimer by itself is not a complete reply to a nonstatutory double patenting (NSDP) rejection. A complete reply requires that the terminal disclaimer be accompanied by a reply requesting reconsideration of the prior Office action. Even where the NSDP rejection is provisional the reply must be complete. See MPEP § 804, subsection I.B.1. For a reply to a non-final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.111(a). For a reply to final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.113(c). A request for reconsideration while not provided for in 37 CFR 1.113(c) may be filed after final for consideration. See MPEP §§ 706.07(e) and 714.13.
The USPTO Internet website contains terminal disclaimer forms which may be used. Please visit www.uspto.gov/patent/patents-forms. The actual 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/apply/applying-online/eterminal-disclaimer.
Claims 21-27 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claim 1 of U.S. Patent No. 12,341,820. Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because recite similar features as follows:
Claim 21 Claim 1 of Patent 12,341,820
A system, comprising:
one or more processors; and one or more computer-readable non-transitory storage media comprising instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause one or more components of the system to perform operations comprising:
receiving, from a multi-factor authentication (MFA) agent running on a user device, a location of the user device;
receiving a location-based access policy;
appending, to the location-based access policy, the location of the user device;
in response to appending the location of the user device to the location-based access policy, storing the location-based access policy;
receiving a first authentication result from an authentication server; and
determining, based on the location of the user device, the first authentication result, and the location-based access policy, a second authentication result, wherein the second authentication result indicates whether to allow the user device to access a service, a database, or an other device.
A system, comprising:
one or more processors; and one or more computer-readable non-transitory storage media comprising instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause one or more components of the system to perform operations comprising:
…receiving, from the MFA agent, the location of the user device, wherein the location is determined by the MFA agent to be a common location indicated by a plurality of location indicators;
receiving, from a policy server, a location-based access policy;
appending, to the location-based access policy, the location of the user device;
in response to appending the location of the user device to the location-based access policy, storing the location-based access policy;
receiving a first authentication result from an authentication server; and determining, based on the location of the user device, the first authentication result, and the location-based access policy, a second authentication result, wherein the second authentication result indicates whether to allow the user device to access one or more of: a remote service, a remote database, and a remote device.
4. Claims 28-34 are rejected for the same reason as indicated above against claims 8-14 of Patent 12,341,820.
5 Claims 35-40 are rejected for the same reason as indicated above against claims 15-20 of Patent 12,341,820.
This is an anticipation rejection.
Inquiry communication
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TRI M TRAN whose telephone number is (571)270-1994. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri: 9am-5pm.
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/TRI M TRAN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2432
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