DETAILED ACTION
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 .
Applicant(s) Response to Official Action
The response filed on 02/27/2026 has been entered and made of record.
Response to Arguments/Amendments
Presented arguments have been fully considered. Examiner fully addresses below any arguments.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
Summary of Arguments:
Regarding claims 1, 4, 7, 8 and 9 Applicant argues ‘stores, into a sequence parameter set, presence information indicating whether subpicture information is present: and when the presence information indicates that the subpicture information is present, stores the subpicture size information into the sequence parameter set by loop processing for each of the plurality of subpictures’(claims 1 and 7), ‘a width and a height of each of a plurality of subpictures are represented in a unit of a coding tree block (CTB)…when the presence information indicates that the subpicture information is present, obtains, from the sequence parameter set by loop processing for each of a plurality of subpictures… a width and a height of each of a plurality of subpictures are represented in a unit of a coding tree block (CTB)’ (claims 4 and 8) and ‘when the presence information indicates that the subpicture information is present, the bitstream further comprises, in the sequence parameter set and by loop processing for each of a plurality of subpictures… a width and a height of each of a plurality of subpictures are represented in a unit of a coding tree block (CTB)’ (claim 9) are supported by at least FIGs. 8, 97, 99, and 100 and paragraphs [0269], [0767]- [0775], [0802], [0805], [0809], [0810], [0824] and [0825] of US 2022/0264155, which is the pre-grant publication of the instant application.
More specifically from figs. 99-100:
“subpics_present_flag” = “presence information indicating whether subpicture information is present”; and
a difference between “top_left_ctb_idx[i]” and “bottom_right_ctb_idx[i]” = “subpicture size information in which a width and a height of each of a plurality of subpictures are represented in a unit of a coding tree block (CTB)”;
Examiner’s Response:
Examiner respectfully disagrees. Regarding claims 1, 4, 7, 8 and 9 Examiner contends did not find the step of “storing” in the provided ¶’s. Examiner is not sure whether the Applicant is claiming the step of storing variables in the SPS to be inherent based on the presence of said variables shown in figs. 99-100. If the applicant is relying on inherency, the Applicant should positively make the case for it on the record. As it stands, the Examiner did not find support of the steps of “storing” in claims 1 and 7.
The applicant claims the “subpicture size information in which a width and a height of each of a plurality of subpictures are represented in a unit of a coding tree block (CTB)” not as the difference between the grid index of the top left grid element and the grid index of the bottom right grid element can represent the width and height of a subpicture region. Nowhere in the specification the “difference between the grid index of the top left grid element and the grid index of the bottom right grid element” is present in the SPS. The Applicant did not specify the nature of the “loop processing” in the submitted ¶’s. Examiner can only assume that the “loop processing” as the “for loop” in the syntax element described in figs. 99-100.
Accordingly, Examiner maintains the rejections.
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 1, 4 and 7-9 are 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. Applicant has not pointed out where the new (or amended) claim is supported, nor does there appear to be a written description of the claim limitation ‘stores, into a sequence parameter set, presence information indicating whether subpicture information is present: and when the presence information indicates that the subpicture information is present, stores the subpicture size information into the sequence parameter set by loop processing for each of the plurality of subpictures’(claims 1 and 7), ‘a width and a height of each of a plurality of subpictures are represented in a unit of a coding tree block (CTB)…when the presence information indicates that the subpicture information is present, obtains, from the sequence parameter set by loop processing for each of a plurality of subpictures… a width and a height of each of a plurality of subpictures are represented in a unit of a coding tree block (CTB)’ (claims 4 and 8) and ‘when the presence information indicates that the subpicture information is present, the bitstream further comprises, in the sequence parameter set and by loop processing for each of a plurality of subpictures… a width and a height of each of a plurality of subpictures are represented in a unit of a coding tree block (CTB)’ (claim 9) in the application as filed.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. 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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CLIFFORD HILAIRE
Primary Examiner
Art Unit 2488
/CLIFFORD HILAIRE/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2488
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