T 1772/20 (Dynamic multifactor authentication/ONESPAN) 21-04-2023
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System and method for dynamic multifactor authentication
KOBIL GmbH
Thales Dis France SA
Molnia, David
Decision in written proceedings - (yes): withdrawal of request for oral proceedings - oral proceedings neither necessary nor expedient
Added subject-matter - main and auxiliary requests (yes)
I. The appeal lies from the interlocutory decision of the opposition division to maintain the opposed patent (hereinafter: "the patent") in amended form on the basis of the proprietor's "Auxiliary Request 1". The proprietor's main request (labelled "Auxiliary Request 4" in Reasons 2.1 of the appealed decision) was deemed not to be allowable for lack of an inventive step (Article 56 EPC).
II. The substantive requests of the parties are as follows:
- The appellant (opponent; labelled "OP1" in the impugned decision) requested that the appealed decision be set aside and that the patent be revoked.
- The respondent (proprietor) requested with the written reply to the appeal as a main request that the appeal be dismissed, i.e. that the patent is upheld as maintained by the opposition division. In the alternative, the respondent requested that the patent be maintained in amended form on the basis of an auxiliary request. This auxiliary request is identical to "Auxiliary Request 2" filed during the oral proceedings before the opposition division on 20 January 2020 (cf. point 1.36 of the "Summary of facts and submissions" and Reasons 2.3 of the appealed decision).
III. The parties were summoned to oral proceedings before the board. A communication was issued under Article 15(1) RPBA 2020 including the board's negative preliminary opinion as concerning added subject-matter (Article 123(2) EPC).
IV. In a written reply, the respondent withdrew its request for oral proceedings and indicated that it would not be attending the arranged oral proceedings.
V. Subsequently, the oral proceedings were cancelled.
VI. Claim 1 of the main request, i.e. claim 1 as maintained by the opposition division, reads as follows (board's feature labelling):
(a) "A method of authenticating a user (1), the method comprising the steps of:
(b) - sending an authentication request to a remote
authentication device (3);
(c) - generating a first piece of authentication
information;
(d) - generating, within the mobile device of the user,
a second piece of authentication information
which is at least partially based on the received
first piece of authentication information;
(e) - sending the second piece of authentication
information to the remote authentication device;
(f) - validating the second piece of authentication
information;
(g) and, if the second piece of authentication information is successfully validated,
- generating an authentication signal;
(h) wherein the first piece of authentication information is received at the mobile device (2) from an access terminal (4);
(i) characterised in that the first piece of authentication information is presented as an image on a display means of the access terminal (4) and captured therefrom using a digital camera of the mobile device (2);
(j) the authentication request comprises personal information of the user (1) and transactional information related to a transaction which the user (1) wishes to make;
(k) the first piece of authentication information contains the transactional information related to the transaction which the user (1) wishes to make; and
(l) the second piece of authentication information comprises a signature over a message contained in the first piece of authentication information,
(m) wherein the message contained in the first piece of authentication information is displayed to the user, and the signature is generated if the transaction is accepted by the user; and
(n) wherein the step of generating the second piece of authentication information is done using the International Mobile Equipment Identity, IMEI, information relating to the Subscriber Identity Module, SIM, or any other information specific to the mobile device (2) of the user (1);
(o) wherein the step of sending the second piece of authentication information to the remote authentication device is done by the mobile device; and
(p) wherein the step of validating the second piece of authentication information comprises:
- receiving from the mobile device (2) information
relating to the location of the mobile
device (2);
(q) - receiving from the access terminal (4)
information relating to the location of the
access terminal (4);
(r) - comparing the location of the mobile device with
the location of the access terminal; and
(s) - validating the second piece of authentication
information only if the location of the mobile
device matches the location of the access
terminal".
VII. Claim 1 of the auxiliary request includes all the features of claim 1 of the main request, with the word "and" removed from feature (o), and further includes, at the end, the following feature:
(t) "wherein the authentication device (3) uses
information contained in an Internet Protocol
packet header to determine the Internet
Protocol address of the access terminal (4), with
which information the authentication device (3)
determines the location of the access
terminal (4)".
1. Decision in written proceedings
1.1 After the parties were summoned to oral proceedings, the respondent withdrew its request for oral proceedings (see point IV above), thereby obviating the need for oral proceedings.
1.2 Given that the board does not consider the conduct of oral proceedings to be expedient either (cf. Article 116(1) EPC), the decision is handed down in written proceedings (Article 12(8) RPBA 2020).
2. Technical background
The invention underlying the opposed patent relates to authenticating a user within the framework of performing a banking or commercial transaction. Such transactions are prone to several kinds of attacks, such as phishing. The patent adopts in this respect a "dynamic multifactor authentication". From the authentication factors underlying this authentication, a first one can be entered manually in the form of an account name and password. A second authentication factor is then sent automatically to a mobile device via Bluetooth or SMS or semi-automatically via a mobile phone's camera.
The fact that the "second authentication factor" is entered into the mobile device (semi-)automatically is used by the system according to the invention to generate messages with allegedly "longer codes" and "a greater amount of transactional information". By doing so, the invention is stated to provide for an increased security and usability. It thereby relies on the ever increasing processing power of mobile devices.
3. Main request: claim 1 - added subject-matter
Claim 1 of the main request is related to original claims 1, 3, 7, 10 to 12 and 15. Nonetheless, it comprises added subject-matter at least due to the amendments underlying features (j), (k) and (m):
3.1 Feature (j) has no direct and unambiguous disclosure in the application as filed for the following reasons.
3.1.1 First, the original application's "personal information" only concerns data which the user enters into the access terminal (see page 9, lines 17 to 19 and page 11, lines 5 to 7, both of the application as filed). By contrast, the "personal information" of feature (j) is not restricted in this regard. Within the context of secure web-based transactions, it could, for instance, relate to the user's favourite dish from a particular restaurant as stored in a web-browser's cookie. Alternatively, it can relate to the user's gender or blood type as apparent from their online medical file. As a further alternative, it can relate to the user's mobile phone number or finger print to just name a few examples. None of these examples are however necessarily entered by the user into the access terminal, such as the "Point of Sales" terminal considered at lines 6 and 7 of page 8 as filed. The fact that the application as filed did not impart a special meaning to the entering of the personal data by the user into the access terminal does not mean that there is a direct and an unambiguous disclosure for the general "personal information" according to feature (j).
3.1.2 Moreover, features (a) to (s) are also silent about the use or purpose of the "personal information" of feature (j). This use or purpose could be, for instance, presenting the user with dedicated information based on the personal information. Conversely, the appellant correctly pointed out that the application as filed only uses this personal information for validation by remote authentication device 3 (see page 9, lines 20 to 24 and page 11, lines 7 to 13 as filed).
3.2 Regarding feature (k), the introduction of the definite article before "transactional information" implies that the first piece of information according to features (i) and (k) comprises the same "transactional information" as the "authentication request" of feature (j). The appellant correctly observed that this is not directly and unambiguously disclosed.
The last paragraph of Reasons 2.1.1.2 of the appealed decision relies on page 9, lines 20 to 23, 29 and 30 as filed and indicates that the skilled reader, when "reading the passage as a whole", would have understood that "the transaction information is the same". Even if one understands the term "information pertaining to the specific transaction which the user 1 wishes to perform" used at page 9, lines 22 and 23 as filed to be equivalent to the term "transactional information" used at page 9, line 29 as filed, there is no direct and unambiguous disclosure that the former is sent "via the authentication request", contrary to what the Reasons of the appealed decision state. In particular, the preposition "along with" of page 9, line 22 as filed does not imply that the "personal information" and the "information pertaining to the specific transaction which the user 1 wishes to perform" are sent as one request.
3.3 Regarding feature (m), the phrase "the signature is generated if the transaction is accepted by the user" has no direct and unambiguous disclosure in the application as filed. At page 12, lines 13 and 14 as filed, it is merely stated that the message is signed if the transaction is accepted by the user. It is however not stated there that the user's signature is generated at that very point in time. This signature could e.g. have been generated beforehand and then stored on mobile device 2. Moreover, the appellant correctly observed that feature (m) does not specify the unit by which the signing is actually performed. By contrast, page 12, lines 12 to 16 as filed suggests this unit to be the mobile device 2. This amounts to an unallowable intermediate generalisation.
The board also agrees with the appellant that features (a) to (s) are silent about the case where the user does not accept the transaction. Page 12, lines 17 to 23 as filed in fact states that in this case "the encoded and encrypted message is sent to the remote authentication device 3 without being digitally signed". Alternatively, "the encrypted message could not be sent at all". Contrary to what is suggested by the respondent, the skilled reader would, based solely on features (a) to (s), indeed be immediately aware of more than just the two possibilities as disclosed in the application as filed. A third possibility which is not present in the application's original disclosure is, for instance, that a warning is shown to the user requesting confirmation by the user not to accept the transaction.
3.4 Hence, the main request is not allowable under Article 123(2) EPC.
4. Auxiliary request: claim 1 - added subject-matter
4.1 Added feature (t) does not address any of the deficiencies mentioned in points 3.1 to 3.3 above.
4.2 As a result, the auxiliary request is also not allowable under Article 123(2) EPC.
Order
For these reasons it is decided that:
1. The decision under appeal is set aside.
2. The patent is revoked.