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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
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.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1-8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by D1.1
With regard to claim 1, D1 teach decoding method for decoding point cloud data (see ¶¶ 128, 147, fig. 1: encoding and decoding system), the decoding method comprising: a step of specifying reference values corresponding to a plurality of points (see ¶¶ 194, 401, 494, 495: reference point); a step of decoding attribute residuals of the plurality of points from encoded residual data obtained by encoding the attribute residuals, the attribute residuals of the plurality of points being residuals of attribute values of the plurality of points with respect to the reference values (see ¶¶ 494-495); and a step of calculating, for each of the plurality of points, an attribute value of the point from an attribute residual of the point and a reference value corresponding to the point (see ¶¶ 494-495).
With regard to claim 2, D1 teach wherein the plurality of points include points belonging to different groups, and in the step of specifying the reference values, a reference value corresponding to a group to which each of the plurality of points belongs is specified (see ¶¶ 441, 445: group of frames; see also ¶¶ 494-495).
With regard to claim 3, D1 teach wherein the groups are frames (see ¶¶ 441, 445: group of frames).
With regard to claim 4, D1 teach comprising a step of decoding the group to which each of the plurality of points belongs from encoded attribute data obtained by encoding a value indicating the group to which each of the plurality of points belongs, wherein in the step of specifying the reference values, a reference value corresponding to the decoded group to which each of the plurality of points belongs is specified (see ¶¶ 494-495).
With regard to claim 5, D1 teach a step of decoding a frame index and an attribute residual of each of a plurality of points included in merged point cloud data obtained by merging point clouds belonging to different frames from encoded index data obtained by encoding frame indexes indicating the frames to which the points belong and encoded residual data obtained by encoding attribute residuals that are residuals of attribute values with respect to reference values (see ¶¶ 456, 465-466, 494-495: frame index, residuals and reference values); a step of acquiring reference data indicating a correspondence relationship between the frame indexes and the reference values (see ¶¶ 494-495: encoding and decoding of frame index, residuals and reference values); a step of specifying, for each of the plurality of points, a reference value corresponding to the decoded frame index from the reference data; and a step of calculating, for each of the plurality of points, an attribute value from the decoded attribute residual and the specified reference value (see ¶¶ 494-495; see ¶¶ 128, 147, fig. 1: encoding and decoding system).
With regard to claim 6, D1 teach a reference specifying unit configured to specify reference values corresponding to a plurality of points (see ¶¶ 456, 465-466, 494-495: frame index, residuals and reference values); a residual decoding unit configured to decode attribute residuals of the plurality of points from encoded residual data obtained by encoding the attribute residuals, the attribute residuals of the plurality of points being residuals of attribute values of the plurality of points with respect to the reference values (see ¶¶ 128, 147, fig. 1, ¶¶ 494-495: encoding and decoding of residual values with respect to reference); and an attribute value calculation unit configured to calculate, for each of the plurality of points, an attribute value of the point from an attribute residual of the point and a reference value corresponding to the point (see ¶¶ 128, 147, 494-495: decoding of attribute values).
With regard to claim 7, see discussion of claim 1.
With regard to claim 8, D1 teach encoded point cloud data, the encoded point cloud data comprising: encoded residual data obtained by encoding attribute residuals that are residuals of attribute values of a plurality of points with respect to reference values, the encoded residual data being used by a computer for processing of decoding the attribute residuals (see ¶¶ 494-495: encoding residual values with respect to reference; see ¶¶ 128, 147, fig. 1, ¶¶ 494-495: encoding and decoding of residual values with respect to reference); and reference data indicating a correspondence relationship between the plurality of points and the reference values, the reference data being used by the computer for processing of calculating, for each of the plurality of points, an attribute value from an attribute residual and a reference value (see ¶¶ 494-495; see ¶¶ 128, 147, fig. 1, ¶¶ 494-495: encoding and decoding of residual values with respect to reference).
Conclusion
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/AVINASH YENTRAPATI/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2672
1 US Publication No. 2021/0142521.