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 .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 2/17/26 has been entered. Currently, claims 1, 5-7, 10-12, and 15-18 are pending.
Response to Arguments
Applicant's arguments filed 2/17/26 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive.
The applicant asserts N19525 and Flynn et al. (US 2021/0004992), individually or in combination, fail to disclose or suggest wherein the subgroup belongs to a layer group in a layer group structure, wherein the subgroup is identified by subgroup identification information and layer group identification information, wherein the layer group is a group of consecutive levels of a geometry tree, wherein the layer group includes a plurality of nodes and each level of the layer group includes one or more nodes, and wherein the layer group is identified by the layer group identification information and includes one more subgroups, wherein the signaling data includes the layer group identification information and the subgroup identification information. The Examiner respectfully disagrees as the combination of N19525 and Flynn disclose the above-mentioned features. Particularly, Flynn discloses encoding and decoding point clouds, and encoders and decoders for encoding and decoding point clouds. A current node associated with a sub-volume is split into further sub-volumes, each further sub-volume corresponding to a child node of the current node, and, at the encoder, an occupancy pattern is determined for the current node based on occupancy status of the child nodes (para 27). A method of encoding a point cloud to generate a bitstream of compressed point cloud data, the point cloud being defined in a tree structure having a plurality of nodes having parent-child relationships and that represent the geometry of a volumetric space recursively split into sub-volumes and containing the points of the point cloud. The method includes, for a current node associated with a sub-volume split into further sub-volumes, each further sub-volume corresponding to a child node of the current node, determining an occupancy pattern for the current node based on occupancy status of the child nodes (para 28). One of the more common mechanisms for coding point cloud data is through using tree-based structures. In a tree-based structure, the bounding three-dimensional volume for the point cloud is recursively divided into sub-volumes. Nodes of the tree correspond to sub-volumes. The decision of whether or not to further divide a sub-volume may be based on resolution of the tree and/or whether there are any points contained in the sub-volume (para 45). The point cloud encoder 10 includes a tree building module 12 for receiving point cloud data and producing a tree (in this example, an octree) representing the geometry of the volumetric space containing point cloud and indicating the location or position of points from the point cloud in that geometry. The process starts with a bounding volume (cube) containing the point cloud in a coordinate system. The volume is then split into 8 sub-volumes (eight sub-cubes). For each sub-volume, mark the sub-volume with 0 if the sub-volume is empty, or with 1 if there is at least one point in it. For all sub-volumes marked with 1, repeat the splitting step to split those sub-volumes, until a maximum depth of splitting is reached (paras 48-53). Fig. 3 shows a node with a plurality of subgroups, each with one or more subgroups with a plurality of nodes (para 65). Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to combine the tree structure geometry of point cloud data, as described by Flynn, with the system of N19525. The suggestion/motivation for doing so would have been to provide more efficient and effective compress data for point clouds (Flynn para 4). Therefore, the combination of N19525 and Flynn discloses wherein the subgroup belongs to a layer group in a layer group structure, wherein the subgroup is identified by subgroup identification information and layer group identification information, wherein the layer group is a group of consecutive levels of a geometry tree, wherein the layer group includes a plurality of nodes and each level of the layer group includes one or more nodes, and wherein the layer group is identified by the layer group identification information and includes one more subgroups, wherein the signaling data includes the layer group identification information and the subgroup identification information.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claims 1, 2, 5-7, 10-12, and 15-18 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103(a) as being unpatentable over ISO/IEC JTC1/SC29/WG11 Document No. N19525, “G-PCC codec description v8” (2 October 2020) (“N19525”), cited in the IDS dated 8/24/23, in view of Flynn et al. (US 2021/0004992).
Regarding claims 1 and 6, N19525 discloses a device for transmitting point cloud data and a method of transmitting point cloud data, the method comprising:
encoding geometry data of the point cloud data (see § 2, “In both the encoder and decoder, point cloud positions are coded first”);
encoding attribute data of the point cloud data based on the geometry data (see § 3.15.8, Fig. 149; attribute data header (ash) paired with geometry data unit for a slice); and
transmitting the encoded geometry data, the encoded attribute data, and signaling data (see § 3.15.8, Fig. 149; attribute data header (ash) paired with geometry data unit for a slice).
N19525 does not disclose expressly encoding geometry data of the point cloud data in a subgroup, wherein the subgroup belongs to a layer group in a layer group structure, wherein the subgroup is identified by subgroup identification information and layer group identification information, wherein the layer group is a group of consecutive levels of a geometry tree, wherein the layer group includes a plurality of nodes and each level of the layer group includes one or more nodes, and wherein the layer group is identified by the layer group identification information and includes one more subgroups; wherein the signaling data includes the layer group identification information and the subgroup identification information.
Flynn discloses encoding geometry data of the point cloud data in a subgroup, wherein the subgroup belongs to a layer group in a layer group structure, wherein the subgroup is identified by subgroup identification information and layer group identification information, wherein the layer group is a group of consecutive levels of a geometry tree, wherein the layer group includes a plurality of nodes and each level of the layer group includes one or more nodes, and wherein the layer group is identified by the layer group identification information and includes one more subgroups; wherein the signaling data includes the layer group identification information and the subgroup identification information (see Figs. 3 and 4 and paras 27-28, 45, 48, and 65-68, encoded point cloud data is defined in a tree structure made up of a plurality of nodes having a parent-child relationship with a geometric representation of volumetric space split into sub-volumes, thus layered groups and subgroups).
Regarding claims 11 and 16, N19525 discloses a device for decoding point cloud data a method of receiving point cloud data, the method comprising:
receiving geometry data, attribute data, and signaling data (see Fig. 1, decoder receives geometry bitstream and attribute bitstream);
decoding the geometry data based on the signaling data (see § 2, “In both the encoder and decoder, point cloud positions are coded first”); and
decoding the attribute data based on the signaling data and the decoded geometry data (see § 3.15.8, Fig. 149; attribute data header (ash) paired with geometry data unit for a slice).
N19525 does not disclose expressly encoding geometry data of the point cloud data in a subgroup, wherein the subgroup belongs to a layer group in a layer group structure, wherein the subgroup is identified by subgroup identification information and layer group identification information, wherein the layer group is a group of consecutive levels of a geometry tree, wherein the layer group includes a plurality of nodes and each level of the layer group includes one or more nodes, and wherein the layer group is identified by the layer group identification information and includes one more subgroups; wherein the signaling data includes the layer group identification information and the subgroup identification information.
Flynn discloses encoding geometry data of the point cloud data in a subgroup, wherein the subgroup belongs to a layer group in a layer group structure, wherein the subgroup is identified by subgroup identification information and layer group identification information, wherein the layer group is a group of consecutive levels of a geometry tree, wherein the layer group includes a plurality of nodes and each level of the layer group includes one or more nodes, and wherein the layer group is identified by the layer group identification information and includes one more subgroups; wherein the signaling data includes the layer group identification information and the subgroup identification information (see Figs. 3 and 4 and paras 27-28, 45, 48, and 65-68, encoded point cloud data is defined in a tree structure made up of a plurality of nodes having a parent-child relationship with a geometric representation of volumetric space split into sub-volumes, thus layered groups and subgroups).
Before the effective filing date of the claimed invention, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art to combine the tree structure geometry of point cloud data, as described by Flynn, with the system of N19525.
The suggestion/motivation for doing so would have been to provide more efficient and effective compress data for point clouds (Flynn para 4).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to combine Flynn with N19525 to obtain the invention as specified in claims 1, 6, 11, and 16.
Regarding claims 2, 7, 12 and 17, Flynn further discloses wherein nodes in the geometry tree are grouped into at least the layer group or the subgroup (see Figs. 3 and 4 and paras 27-28, 45, 48, and 65-68, encoded point cloud data is defined in a tree structure made up of a plurality of nodes having a parent-child relationship with a geometric representation of volumetric space split into sub-volumes, thus layered groups and subgroups).
Regarding claims 5, 10, 15, and 18, Flynn further discloses wherein the signaling data further comprises entropy continuation enabled information for specifying whether or not entropy is used continuously (see paras 27-28, 45, 61-62, and 64, entropy encoding and decoding is performed).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to MARK R MILIA whose telephone number is (571) 272-7408. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday, 8am-5pm.
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/MARK R MILIA/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2681