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and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114.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 5/18/2026 has been entered.
Examiner Notes
Paragraph 219, “The bitstream according to the embodiments may contain signaling information including a sequence parameter set (SPS) for signaling of a sequence level, a geometry parameter set (GPS) for signaling of geometry information coding, an attribute parameter set (APS) for signaling of attribute information coding, and a tile parameter set (TPS or tile inventory) for signaling of a tile level, and slice data. The slice data may include information about one or more slices. One slice according to embodiments may include one geometry bitstream Geom0° and one or more attribute bitstreams Attr0° and Attr0. The TPS (or tile inventory) according to the embodiments may
include information about each tile (e.g., coordinate information and height/size information about a bounding box) for one or more tiles. The geometry bitstream may contain a header and a payload. The header of the geometry bitstream according to the embodiments may contain a parameter set identifier (geomp5arameterset_id), a tile identifier (geom_tile_id) and a slice identifier (geomslice_id) included in the GPS, and information about the data contained in the payload.”
“The position information in the three-dimensional space according to the embodiments may be referred to as geometry information.”
“the geometry bitstream within each slice may be referred to as a geometry data unit, the geometry slice header may be referred to as a geometry data unit header, and the geometry slice data may be referred to as geometry data unit data”
“the attribute slice header in each slice may be referred to as an attribute data unit, the attribute slice header may be referred to as an attribute data unit header, and the attribute slice data may be referred to as attribute data unit data.”
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-19 have been considered but are moot in view of new grounds of rejection.
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 1-2,4-7,9-13,15-19 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.
Claim 1 recites “wherein the attribute data unit header includes first identification information for specifying the APS based on attribute parameter identification information included in the APS and second identification information for identifying each of the one or more attributes,”. There is no explicit disclosure of “second identification information” in the specification. The attribute data unit header can be seen in Fig. 37 and paragraphs 640-648. In the claim “each of the one or more attributes” refers to a color attribute comprising a plurality of components.
Paragraph 641 states “[641] The ash_attr_parameterset_id field specifies the value on the apsattr_parameterset_id field of the current active APS.”, which does not appear to be equivalent to the claim language of the first identification information.
Regarding the second identification information, it does not appear to be supported by the original application. The Examiner recommends, Applicant specifically point out in the Specification where these amendments are supported. applicant has not pointed out where the amended claim is supported, nor does there appear to be a written description of the claim limitations in the application as filed. See MPEP 2163.II
Claim 1 recites “wherein a number of the plurality of components is derived by adding 1 to component count information related to the color attribute included in the SPS.” applicant has not pointed out where the amended claim is supported, nor does there appear to be a written description of the claim limitations in the application as filed. See MPEP 2163.II. “adding 1” appears only in paragraphs 528, 533 and 614.
Claims 6, 11 and 16 are rejected under similar grounds as claim 1 above.
Claims 2,4-5,7,9-10,12-13, 15, 17-19 are rejected as dependent upon a rejected claim.
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.
Claim 1-2,4-7,9-13,15-19 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.
Claim 1 recites “a zero-run length coding is performed on the plurality of components of the color attribute ”Fig. 20a-c (paragraph 312-314) show 3 mutually exclusive ways of encoding the components. *Examiner Note: If Applicant were to argue that it is meant to cover all 3 ways, A written description (spec doesn’t describe a representative number of species) would likely be advanced. Additionally see paragraphs 268 and 315.
Claim 1 recites ‘component count information”. This phrase does not appear in the original specification. Paragraph 533 does disclose “
PNG
media_image1.png
92
548
media_image1.png
Greyscale
” The scope of this claim limitation is not clear. Whether it should be limited to the paragraph cited above, or if it means something else.
Claims 6, 11 and 16 are rejected under similar grounds as claim 1 above.
Claims 2,4-5,7,9-10,12-13, 15, 17-19 are rejected as dependent upon a rejected claim.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim(s) 1-2,4-7,9-13 and 15-19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Chou (PGPub 2017/0347122) in light of the evidentiary reference Malvar (“Adaptive Run-Length / Golomb-Rice Encoding of Quantized Generalized Gaussian Sources with Unknown Statistics”) in view of Ray (PGPub 2021/0211734).
Chou discloses 1. (Currently Amended) A method of encoding point cloud data, the method comprising:
encoding geometry data of the point cloud data; (Chou, Fig. 3A, “[0062] In the input buffer (310), the point cloud data (305) includes geometry data (312) for points as well as attributes (314) of occupied points. The geometry data (312) includes indicators of which of the points of the point cloud data (305) are occupied (that is, have at least one attribute).”)
encoding attribute data of the point cloud data based on the geometry data; and (Chou, Fig. 3A, “[0062] In the input buffer (310), the point cloud data (305) includes geometry data (312) for points as well as attributes (314) of occupied points. The geometry data (312) includes indicators of which of the points of the point cloud data (305) are occupied (that is, have at least one attribute).”)
transmitting the encoded geometry data, the encoded attribute data, and signaling data, (Chou, Fig. 3A, “[0078] The output buffer (392) is memory configured to receive and store the encoded data (395). The encoded data (395) that is aggregated in the output buffer (390) can also include metadata relating to the encoded data. The encoded data can be further processed by a channel encoder (not shown), which can implement one or more media system multiplexing protocols or transport protocols. The channel encoder provides output to a channel (not shown), which represents storage, a communications connection, or another channel for the output.”, see also paragraph 71, “The entropy coder(s) (380) pass the results of the entropy coding to the multiplexer (390), which formats the coded transform coefficients and other data to be part of the encoded data (395) for output. When the entropy coder(s) (380) use parameters to adapt entropy coding (e.g., estimates of distribution of quantized transform coefficients for buckets, as described in section V.E), the entropy coder(s) (380) also code the parameters and pass them to the multiplexer (390), which formats the coded parameters to be part of the encoded data (395).”)
wherein the attribute data includes one or more attributes, wherein one of the one or more attributes is a color attribute, wherein the color attribute is comprised of a plurality of components, (Chou, Fig. 3A, “[0062] In the input buffer (310), the point cloud data (305) includes geometry data (312) for points as well as attributes (314) of occupied points. The geometry data (312) includes indicators of which of the points of the point cloud data (305) are occupied (that is, have at least one attribute). … For example, the attribute(s) for an occupied point can include: (1) one or more sample values each defining, at least in part, a color associated with the occupied point (e.g., YUV sample values, RGB sample values, or sample values in some other color space); (2) an opacity value defining, at least in part, an opacity associated with the occupied point; (3) a specularity value defining, at least in part, a specularity coefficient associated with the occupied point; (4)…”)
wherein a zero-run length coding is performed on the plurality of components of the color attribute, and (Chou, Fig. 3A,” [0071] The entropy coder(s) (380) entropy code the quantized transform coefficients. When entropy coding the quantized transform coefficients, the entropy coder(s) (380) can use arithmetic coding, run-length Golomb-Rice coding, or some other type of entropy coding (e.g., Exponential-Golomb coding, variable length coding, dictionary coding). In particular, the entropy coder(s) (380) can apply one of the variations of adaptive entropy coding described in section V.E. Alternatively, the entropy coder(s) (380) apply some other form of adaptive or non-adaptive entropy coding to the quantized transform coefficients. The entropy coder(s) (380) can also encode general control data, QP values, and other side information (e.g., mode decisions, parameter choices).”)(Chou“ [0064] In general, a volumetric element, or voxel, is a set of one or more collocated attributes for a location in 3D space. For purposes of encoding, attributes can be grouped on a voxel-by-voxel basis. Or, to simplify implementation, attributes can be grouped for encoding on an attribute-by-attribute basis (e.g., encoding a first component plane for luma (Y) sample values for points of the frame, then encoding a second component plane for first chroma (U) sample values for points of the frame, then encoding a third component plane for second chroma (V) sample values for points of the frame, and so on). Typically, the geometry data (312) is the same for all attributes of a point cloud frame—each occupied point has values for the same set of attributes. Alternatively, however, different occupied points can have different sets of attributes.”)
Chou discloses run-length Golumb-rice coding, which inherently uses zero-run-length coding, as evidenced by Malvar (“Adaptive Run-Length / Golomb-Rice Encoding of Quantized Generalized Gaussian Sources with Unknown Statistics”) discloses details of the run-length encoding which is:
If a long run of zeros is encountered, zero-run-length encoding would be used. If the data has a more variable distribution, Golomb-Rice coding would be employed, as evidenced by the original paper shown below.
PNG
media_image2.png
74
618
media_image2.png
Greyscale
PNG
media_image2.png
74
618
media_image2.png
Greyscale
Chou predates the G-CCP standard, thus does not expressly disclose “wherein the signaling data includes a sequence parameter set(SPS), an attribute parameter set(APS), and an attribute data unit header,
wherein the attribute data unit header includes first identification information for specifying the APS based on attribute parameter identification information included in the APS and second identification information for identifying each of the one or more attributes, and
wherein a number of the plurality of components is derived by adding 1 to component count information related to the color attribute included in the SPS.”
“wherein the signaling data includes a sequence parameter set(SPS), an attribute parameter set(APS), and an attribute data unit header, (Ray, Fig. 4, paragraph 112, “[0112] FIG. 4 is a conceptual diagram illustrating a relationship between a sequence parameter set, a geometry parameter set, a geometry slice header, an attribute parameter set, and an attribute slice header. G-PCC decoder 300 may use geometry slice header (GSH) 402 to find the associated GPS, e.g., GPS 404, for a geometry slice by referring to the GPS ID. Using GPS 404, G-PCC decoder 300 may find the associated SPS, e.g., SPS 410 by referring to the SPS ID, as shown in the example of FIG. 4. Similarly, G-PCC decoder 300 may use attribute slice header 406 to find the associated APS, e.g., APS 408, by referring to the APS ID. Using APS 408, G-PCC decoder 300 may find the associated SPS, SPS 410 by referring to the SPS ID.”)
wherein the attribute data unit header includes first identification information for specifying the APS based on attribute parameter identification information included in the APS and second identification information for identifying each of the one or more attributes, and (Ray, paragraph 122,
PNG
media_image3.png
436
474
media_image3.png
Greyscale
)
wherein a number of the plurality of components is derived by adding 1 to component count information related to the color attribute included in the SPS.” (Ray, paragraph 79, “0079] In some examples, a device, such as G-PCC encoder 200 or G-PCC decoder 300, may code a syntax element (e.g., lifting numpred nearest neighbors minus1), wherein the syntax element plus 1 specifies a maximum number of nearest neighbors to be used for prediction. The coder may code a point cloud using the syntax element.”)
It would have been obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art before the time of the effective filing date of the claimed invention of the instant application to modify the color point cloud encoding method with the G-PCCC standard as outlined by Ray
The suggestion/motivation for doing so would have been in order to produce a standard conforming bitstream.
Further, one skilled in the art could have combined the elements as described above by known methods with no change in their respective functions, and the combination would have yielded nothing more than predictable results.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to combine Chou with Ray to obtain the invention as specified in claim 1.
Chou in view of Ray discloses 2. (Currently Amended) The method of The method of wherein the zero-run length coding is included in entropy coding performed on an entropy coding unit,(Chou, Fig. 3A, paragraph 71) and wherein the entropy coding unit is determined based on a tree structure generated based on reconstructed geometry data, based on a Morton code, or based on a level of detail (LoD). (Chou, Fig. 3a, “Octtree”)
Chou in view of Ray discloses 4. (Currently Amended) The method of claim 2, wherein the entropy coding further comprises performing arithmetic coding on the color attribute. (Chou, Fig. 3A, paragraph 71, “ the entropy coder(s) (380) can use arithmetic coding”)
Chou in view of Ray discloses 5. (Currently Amended) The method of claim 2, wherein the signaling data further comprises information related to the entropy coding. (Chou, paragraph 71, “to the quantized transform coefficients. The entropy coder(s) (380) can also encode general control data, QP values, and other side information (e.g., mode decisions, parameter choices)”)
Claims 6-7, 9-10 are rejected under similar grounds as claims 1-2 and 4-5, respectively.
Claim 11-13 and 15 are rejected under similar grounds as claims 1-2 and 4-5. The only difference is that claim 1 is for the encoding portion and claim 11 is for the decoding portion.
Claims 16-19 are rejected under similar grounds as claims 11-13 and 15.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to GANDHI THIRUGNANAM whose telephone number is (571)270-3261. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:30-5PM.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Sumati Lefkowitz can be reached at 571-272-3638. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/GANDHI THIRUGNANAM/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2672
Prosecution Insights