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 .
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 5-15 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Applicant is correct, in that only Claims 1-4 are withdrawn.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of Group II in the reply filed on 5/30/2025 is acknowledged.
Claims 1-4 are withdrawn from further consideration pursuant to 37 CFR 1.142(b) as being drawn to a nonelected invention, there being no allowable generic or linking claim. Election was made without traverse in the reply filed on 5/30/2025.
Double Patenting
The nonstatutory double patenting rejection is based on a judicially created doctrine grounded in public policy (a policy reflected in the statute) so as to prevent the unjustified or improper timewise extension of the “right to exclude” granted by a patent and to prevent possible harassment by multiple assignees. A nonstatutory double patenting rejection is appropriate where the conflicting claims are not identical, but at least one examined application claim is not patentably distinct from the reference claim(s) because the examined application claim is either anticipated by, or would have been obvious over, the reference claim(s). See, e.g., In re Berg, 140 F.3d 1428, 46 USPQ2d 1226 (Fed. Cir. 1998); In re Goodman, 11 F.3d 1046, 29 USPQ2d 2010 (Fed. Cir. 1993); In re Longi, 759 F.2d 887, 225 USPQ 645 (Fed. Cir. 1985); In re Van Ornum, 686 F.2d 937, 214 USPQ 761 (CCPA 1982); In re Vogel, 422 F.2d 438, 164 USPQ 619 (CCPA 1970); In re Thorington, 418 F.2d 528, 163 USPQ 644 (CCPA 1969).
A timely filed terminal disclaimer in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(c) or 1.321(d) may be used to overcome an actual or provisional rejection based on nonstatutory double patenting provided the reference application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with the examined application, or claims an invention made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement. See MPEP § 717.02 for applications subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA as explained in MPEP § 2159. See MPEP § 2146 et seq. for applications not subject to examination under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . A terminal disclaimer must be signed in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(b).
The filing of a terminal disclaimer by itself is not a complete reply to a nonstatutory double patenting (NSDP) rejection. A complete reply requires that the terminal disclaimer be accompanied by a reply requesting reconsideration of the prior Office action. Even where the NSDP rejection is provisional the reply must be complete. See MPEP § 804, subsection I.B.1. For a reply to a non-final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.111(a). For a reply to final Office action, see 37 CFR 1.113(c). A request for reconsideration while not provided for in 37 CFR 1.113(c) may be filed after final for consideration. See MPEP §§ 706.07(e) and 714.13.
The USPTO Internet website contains terminal disclaimer forms which may be used. Please visit www.uspto.gov/patent/patents-forms. The actual filing date of the application in which the form is filed determines what form (e.g., PTO/SB/25, PTO/SB/26, PTO/AIA /25, or PTO/AIA /26) should be used. A web-based eTerminal Disclaimer may be filled out completely online using web-screens. An eTerminal Disclaimer that meets all requirements is auto-processed and approved immediately upon submission. For more information about eTerminal Disclaimers, refer to www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/applying-online/eterminal-disclaimer.
Claims 5-15 are provisionally rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 8-15 of copending Application No. 18714539 (reference application). Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because they recite substantially the same claims as shown below.
This is a provisional nonstatutory double patenting rejection because the patentably indistinct claims have not in fact been patented.
18072146 -> Claim 5
18714539 -> Claim 8
A method for encoding an image, the method comprising:
generating a prediction signal for an input signal;
[Claim 8] A method for encoding an image, the method comprising:
generating a prediction signal for an input signal;
generating an initial residual signal based on the input signal and the prediction signal;
calculating an initial residual signal, which is a difference value between the input signal and the prediction signal;
adjusting the initial residual signal based on a similarity between the initial residual signal and a neighbor residual signal that is a residual signal for a signal of a region adjacent to the input signal, wherein the similarity is based on atleast one of a distance or a sum of distances for the neighbor residual signal.
generating a transformed residual signal by transforming a value of the initial residual signal to have a size value within a preset range;
and encoding the adjusted residual signal.
And encoding the transformed residual signal,
*This limitation is similar to claim 6.
*This limitation is similar to claim 14
wherein the transformed residual signal is generated based on a period of a signal,
wherein the preset range is a range of the period of the signal.
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 5-7, 9-11 and 14-15 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.
Claim 5 has been amended to include “adjusting the initial residual signal based on a similarity between the initial residual signal and neighbor residual signal value that is a residual signal for a signal of a region adjacent to the input signal, wherein the similarity is based on at least one of a distance or a sum of distances for the neighbor residual signal”. It should be noted that the original claim 13 recited “The method of claim 11, wherein the similarity is determined based on a sum of a distance for at least one of each of the neighbor residual signal.”
Since “the neighbor residual signal” is singular, the sum of distances would not exist. The scope of this limitation would only be “distance”
Claim 15 is rejected under similar grounds as claim 5.
Claims 6-7,9-12 and 14 are rejected as dependent upon a rejected claim.
NOTE: pg. 35 under eqn 4, it states ”Herein, a distance means a similarity, and a smaller distance value corresponds to a higher similarity to a neighbor residual signal.” And similarly recited under eqn 6
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claim(s) 5-7, 9-11 and 14-15 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee (KR 20180017659) in view of HEVC-BASED DEBLOCKING FILTER WITH RAMP PRESERVATION PROPERTIES, hereafter referred to as Norkin.
Lee discloses 5. A method for encoding an image, the method comprising:
generating a prediction signal for an input signal;
generating an initial residual signal based on the input signal and the prediction signal;
adjusting the initial residual signal
encoding the adjusted residual signal. (Lee, pg. 3 bottom- pg. 4 top “The predicting unit 220 may generate a prediction signal by performing prediction on the digital hologram data1 on which the first conversion has been performed, and may acquire residual image data obtained by subtracting the digital hologram data on which the first conversion has been performed from the prediction signal2.
Specifically, the prediction unit 220 may perform inter prediction or intra prediction on the digital hologram data subjected to the first conversion to generate a prediction signal.
The second conversion unit 230 may compress the digital hologram data by performing HEVC encoding on the digital hologram data subjected to the first conversion. This process is called HEVC-based digital hologram data compression.
The second transform unit 230 may perform a second transform that transforms the residual image data using discrete cosine transform or discrete cosine transform3. Also, the second conversion unit 230 may apply the quantization to the digital hologram data subjected to the second conversion to calculate the conversion coefficient, and may generate the compressed bitstream using the arithmetic coding on the calculated conversion coefficient.4 Then, as a method for decoding compressed digital hologram data, a transform coefficient is first dequantized and a second inverse transform is performed to extract a reconstructed residual signal. And the predicted signal is added to the extracted residual signal to recover the first reconstructed image for the digital hologram data. A first reconstructed image can be obtained by using a deblocking filter and a sample adaptive offset.” ; Where the DCT (see footnote 3 above) is based on neighboring pixels within the 8x8 block, Taken from https://cs.stanford.edu/people/eroberts/courses/soco/projects/data-compression/lossy/jpeg/dct.htm
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Lee discloses DCT followed by quantization, but fails to disclose “based on a similarity between the initial residual signal and neighbor residual signal value that is a residual signal for a signal of a region adjacent to the input signal, wherein the similarity is based on atleast one of a distance or a sum of distances for the neighbor residual signal; and”
Norkin discloses applying a HEVC deblocking filter after DCT for suppressing block artifacts (Norkin, Section 1,
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) thus discloses “based on a similarity between the initial residual signal and neighbor residual signal value that is a residual signal for a signal of a region adjacent to the input signal, wherein the similarity is based on atleast one of a distance or a sum of distances for the neighbor residual signal; and” (Norkin, Section 2, pg. 2 bottom left column, shows that the deblocking filter uses distance between points to determine the strength of the filter(which adjusts the signal)
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)
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 use a deblocking filter as shown by Norkin after the DCT in Lee’s HEVC algorithm.
The suggestion/motivation for doing so would have been to remove blocking noise.
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 Lee with Norkin to obtain the invention as specified in claim 1.
Lee in view of Norkin discloses 6. The method of claim 5, wherein the initial residual signal is generated by considering periodicity of the input signal and the prediction signal.(Lee, Abstract, “A digital hologram compression apparatus may comprise a first transformation part, a prediction part and a second conversion part. The first transformation part performs the first transformation to transform digital hologram data by using at least one of discrete sine transform (DST), discrete cosine transform (DCT), Fresnel transform and Fresnelet transform.”; “Here, the Fresnel transformation is a transformation method in which the wave of light from a light source to an observation point is modeled by diffraction, and can be expressed by Equation (1).
[Equation 1]
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Here, (i, j) and (x, y), i and j are pixel sizes in the horizontal and vertical directions of the digital hologram data, x and y are pixel sizes in the horizontal and vertical directions of the converted data, The distance between the digital hologram data and the hologram restoration plane.”, Note: all 4 techniques consider periodicity; For example see Fresnel eqn above with the periodicity of pi/lambda ;
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fresnel_diffraction
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; DCT would have a periodicity of 8x8 pixel blocks)
Lee in view of Norkin discloses 7. The method of claim 6, wherein a size of the initial residual signal is generated so as not to exceed a maximum value of a period range of the input signal and the prediction signal. (see claim 6 above, The Fresnel equation limits the range to j*PI / Lambda*z)
Lee in view of Norkin discloses 9. The method of claim 5, wherein the adjusting of the initial residual signal adjusts the initial residual signal based on at least one of a number of neighbor residual signals that are referred to, a direction of referring to a neighbor residual signal, a reference distance, and a reference point. (see claim 8; Note : Interpreting this claim is the disjunctive form (i.e. A or B or C or D.). If Applicant believes is should be interpreted conjunctive form (i.e. at least one A and at least one B and at least one C and altheas one D), please state so on the record.)
Lee in view of Norkin discloses 10. The method of claim 9, wherein the reference point is determined based on at least one of a position of a signal and a value of a signal. (see claim 8, addressed the alternative)
Lee in view of Norkin discloses 11. The method of claim 9, wherein the adjusting of the initial residual signal determines whether or not to adjust the initial residual signal based on a similarity between the neighbor residual signal and each of the adjusted residual signal that is generated by adjusting the initial residual signal based on the initial residual signal and periodicity of the signal. (see claim 8, where the residual is modified based on the equation shown above, where the periodicity is 8x8)
Lee in view of Norkin discloses 14. The method of claim 5, comprising: decoding the adjusted residual signal that is encoded; generating an initial reconstructed signal based on the prediction signal and the adjusted residual signal; and generating a transformed reconstructed signal by transforming a value of the initial reconstructed signal to have a size value in a preset range, wherein the generating of the transformed reconstructed signal generates the transformed reconstructed signal from the value of the initial reconstructed signal by using a clipping function that has a minimum value of the preset range and a maximum value of the preset range as input values. (Lee, “The second transform unit 230 may perform a second transform that transforms the residual image data using discrete cosine transform or discrete cosine transform5. Also, the second conversion unit 230 may apply the quantization to the digital hologram data subjected to the second conversion to calculate the conversion coefficient, and may generate the compressed bitstream using the arithmetic coding on the calculated conversion coefficient. Then, as a method for decoding compressed digital hologram data, a transform coefficient is first dequantized and a second inverse transform is performed to extract a reconstructed residual signal. And the predicted signal is added to the extracted residual signal to recover the first reconstructed image for the digital hologram data. A first reconstructed image can be obtained by using a deblocking filter and a sample adaptive offset.”)
Claim 15 is rejected under similar grounds as claim 1.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim 12 is objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims and overcoming any 35 USC 112 rejections.
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.
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.
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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.
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/GANDHI THIRUGNANAM/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2672
1 First limitation
2 Second limitation
3 Third limitation – Note: DCT is a lossy compression techniques, most commonly known for JPEG compression
4 Fourth limitation
5 Third limitation – Note: DCT is a lossy compression techniques, most commonly known for JPEG compression