DETAILED ACTION
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments, see application, filed 08/27/2026, with respect to the 103 rejections have been fully considered and are persuasive. The 103 rejections have been withdrawn.
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 .
Priority
Applicant has four different Provisional’s associated with this instant application. Based on the examiner’s review, only the most recent provisional contains support for the claimed equation. Therefore, this application has an effective filing date of 07-02-2018.
Terminal Disclaimer
The terminal disclaimer filed on 05/13/2026 disclaiming the terminal portion of any patent granted on this application which would extend beyond the expiration date of U.S. Patent No. 11,044,470 has been reviewed and is accepted. The terminal disclaimer has been recorded.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claims 21, 25-26, 28-29, 31-33 and 35 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention. The independent claims recite “wherein reference samples excluded from the longer side have reference sample indices satisfying (reference sample index % R) = a predetermined remainder, where R is a ratio of a length of the longer side to a length of the shorter side and is at least 4”. The claims are restricting the ratio to be at least 4. However, Applicant does not have support for this. For example, Fig. 9 and 0117, the ratio is 2. The specification does not explain why this would be restricted. Applicant is required to provide clarity and/or amend the claims to clarify the 112a rejection.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claims 25-26, 31-32, 35 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
The independent claims recite “obtaining reference samples corresponding to a first side of a current block and reference samples corresponding to second side therefore based on reconstructed samples around the current block” and “obtaining a direct current (DC) value for prediction of the current block based on a reference sample set comprising 2^n reference samples including all reference samples corresponding to a shorter side of the first side and the second side and remaining reference samples corresponding to a longer side thereof”. Therefore, the independent claim calculates a DC value using all reference samples of short side and remaining reference samples of the longer side (i.e. some reference samples are excluded from the longer side).
For example, claim 25 recites, “wherein, when the length of the first side is greater than the length of the second side, the obtaining the DC value is based on the reference sample set comprising the reference samples corresponding to the first side”, and claim 26 recites “wherein obtaining the DC value comprises obtaining the DC value based on an average of the reference samples corresponding to the first side if the length of the first side is greater than the length of the second side”. Therefore, the dependent claims calculate the DC value using “the reference samples” corresponding to a longer side.
These dependent claims are unclear because the independent claims exclude reference samples for the longer side for DC calculation, whereas the dependent claims refer back to “the reference samples” and obtain the DC value using reference samples corresponding to the un-excluded reference samples. However, these reference samples would already be excluded in the method. Please clarify the claim language.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 21, 25-26, 28-29, 31-33 and 35 would be allowable if rewritten or amended to overcome the rejection(s) under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), 2nd paragraph, set forth in this Office action.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter: The closest prior art is Chen ‘962 which discloses excluding reference samples corresponding a longer side such that a power of 2 is achieved for simplifying DC calculations. Furthermore, Chen discloses that removed samples are any subset of the reconstructed pixels (para. 0052, Figs. 8-9). However, Chen does not disclose the specific claimed equation to determine the removed samples.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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/JAMES T BOYLAN/Examiner, Art Unit 2486
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