DETAILED ACTION
This Office action is in response to a Continuation patent application filed by Applicant on 7/3/2025.
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 .
Information Disclosure Statement PTO-1449
The Information Disclosure Statements submitted by applicant on 7/3/2025 and 7/2/2026 have been considered. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR § 1.97. Form PTO-1449 signed and attached hereto.
Double Patenting
No conflicting application or issued patent was identified that would require a rejection under double patenting.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
The present application, as claimed, satisfies the requirements for patent-eligible subject matter under 35 U.S.C. 101.
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.
Claims 1, 3–4 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shah (US 2022/0116392 A1, published Apr. 14, 2022, cited in IDS filed 7/2/2026) in view of Wang (US 2016/0191506 A1, published Jun. 30, 2016).
Regarding claim 1, Shah discloses: an authorization processing method in an image processing apparatus by receiving a user operation via an external terminal device, the authorization processing method comprising: receiving an instruction to send connection information from the image processing apparatus to an authorization server based on the HTTPS protocol to connect with the authorization server consisting of one or more servers selected based on receiving the user operation (the client sends an authorization request to the server and for each authentication technique, the server determines that based on hardware context information (and other context information) of the client device, at least one authentication technique is unacceptable for utilization. Shah ¶¶ 152–154. The network communication is carried out via a secure network browser. Shah ¶ 54.).
Shah does not disclose: displaying a user code and a URL received by the image processing apparatus from the authorization server; receiving an operation of accessing the authorization server specified by the URL from a browser; and displaying information indicating that a user authentication received by the image processing apparatus from the authorization server is successful when the user authentication is performed based on the user code and the user authentication is successful.
However, Wang does disclose: displaying a user code and a URL received by the image processing apparatus from the authorization server (a QR image or a scannable bar code is generated at the server and consists of a token value and a URL. Wang Figure 6 and ¶ 25.); receiving an operation of accessing the authorization server specified by the URL from a browser (the URL embedded in the QR or bar code is the address at the server. Wang Figure 6 and ¶ 25.); and displaying information indicating that a user authentication received by the image processing apparatus from the authorization server is successful when the user authentication is performed based on the user code and the user authentication is successful Wang ¶ 37.).
Therefore, it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the management and determination of supported authentication techniques between an authentication server and a client device based upon a range of factors of Shah with employing an authentication technique of generating by a server and transmitting to the user device scannable codes with user code and the network address of the server based upon the teachings of Wang. The motivation being to facilitate user-friendly authentication using out of band communication with the user device.
Regarding claim 3, Shah in view of Wang discloses the limitations of claim 1, further comprising displaying an authorization scheme selected based on the receiving of the user operation and information related to the authorization server on a same screen (Shah ¶ 46.).
Regarding claim 4, Shah in view of Wang discloses the limitations of claim 1, further comprising receiving an operation to input the user code and a user authentication information to the authorization server when receiving the operation of accessing the authorization server specified by the URL from the browser (Wang ¶ 29.).
Claim 2 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shah in view of Wang in view of Kobayashi (US 2014/0137232 A1, published May 15, 2014).
Regarding claim 2, Shah in view of Wang discloses the limitations of claim1. Shah in view of Wang does not disclose: further comprising displaying a state of a token acquisition before the user authentication is performed based on the user code.
However, Kobayashi does disclose: further comprising displaying a state of a token acquisition before the user authentication is performed based on the user code (the approval server cooperating client 500 generates the state ID 1932 in response to a token acquisition request transmitted from the resource service cooperating application 400 and can be found in the token request management table 1930. Kobayashi Figure 11A and ¶ 149.).
Therefore, it would have been prima facie obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art prior to the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the management and determination of supported authentication techniques between an authentication server and a client device based upon a range of factors of Shah with displaying a state of a token acquisition before user authentication is performed based upon the teachings of Kobayashi. The motivation being to track and manage tokens before tokens are issued and used.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure: Thozhuvanoor (US 2014/0341374 A1, published Nov. 20, 2014), employing QR code-assisted login and authentication of a device with a server.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to VANCE M LITTLE whose telephone number is (571) 270-0408. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday - Friday 9:30am - 5:30pm.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Jung (Jay) Kim can be reached on (571) 272-3804. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/VANCE M LITTLE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2493
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