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 .
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 04/16/2024, 09/27/2024, and 11/28/2025 has/have been considered by the examiner.
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).
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Claims 1, 5, and 9-10 are rejected on the ground of nonstatutory double patenting as being unpatentable over claims 1, 3, and 5-6 of U.S. Patent No. US 11989921 B2. Although the claims at issue are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because Claims 1, 5, and 9-10 of the instant application can be anticipated by claims 1, 3, and 5-6 of U.S. Patent No. US 11989921 B2 respectively.
Instant Application 18636550
US 11989921 B2.
1. A three-dimensional data encoding method, comprising: generating a bitstream by encoding subspaces included in a current space included in three-dimensional data, wherein the generating of the bitstream includes: encoding information that is common to the subspaces and includes information indicating coordinates of the current space and information indicating a total number of the subspaces; and encoding information indicating a size of a corresponding subspace among the subspaces, and wherein a first subspace and a second subspace that are included in the subspaces can partially overlap.
1. A three-dimensional data encoding method, comprising: generating a bitstream by encoding subspaces included in a current space including three-dimensional points, wherein the generating of the bitstream includes: encoding information that is common to the subspaces and includes first information and fourth information, the first information indicating first coordinates which are coordinates of the current space, the fourth information indicating a total number of the subspaces; encoding second information indicating a difference between second coordinates which are coordinates of a subspace among the subspaces and the first coordinates; and encoding third information provided on a subspace basis and indicating a size of a corresponding subspace among the subspaces, and wherein a first subspace and a second subspace that are included in the subspaces can Partially overlap.
5. A three-dimensional data decoding method, comprising: decoding a bitstream obtained by encoding subspaces included in a current space included in three-dimensional data, wherein the decoding of the bitstream includes: decoding, from the bitstream, information that is common to the subspaces and includes information indicating coordinates of the current space and information indicating a total number of the subspaces; and decoding, from the bitstream, information indicating a size of a corresponding subspace among the subspaces, and wherein a first subspace and a second subspace that are included in the subspaces can partially overlap.
3. A three-dimensional data decoding method, comprising: decoding a bitstream obtained by encoding subspaces included in a current space including three-dimensional points, wherein in the decoding of the bitstream: decoding first information and fourth information from information that is common to the subspaces and included in the bitstream, the first information indicating first coordinates which are coordinates of the current space, the fourth information indicating a total number of the subspaces; decoding second information included in the bitstream, the second information indicating a difference between second coordinates which are coordinates of a corresponding subspace among the subspaces and the first coordinates; and decoding third information included in the bitstream and indicating a size of a corresponding subspace among the subspaces, and wherein a first subspace and a second subspace that are included in the subspaces can Partially overlap.
9. A three-dimensional data encoding device, comprising: a processor; and memory, wherein, using the memory, the processor generates a bitstream by encoding subspaces included in a current space included in three-dimensional data, wherein, when generating the bitstream, the processor: encodes information that is common to the subspaces and includes information indicating coordinates of the current space and information indicating a total number of the subspaces; and encodes information indicating a size of a corresponding subspace among the subspaces, and wherein a first subspace and a second subspace that are included in the subspaces can partially overlap.
5. A three-dimensional data encoding device, comprising: a processor; and memory, wherein, using the memory, the processor generates a bitstream by encoding subspaces included in a current space including three-dimensional points, wherein when generating the bitstream, the processor: encodes information that is common to the subspaces and includes first information and fourth information, the first information indicating first coordinates which are coordinates of the current space, the fourth information indicating a total number of the subspaces; encodes second information indicating a difference between second coordinates which are coordinates of a subspace among the subspaces and the first coordinates; and encodes third information provided on a subspace basis and indicating a size of a corresponding subspace among the subspaces, and wherein a first subspace and a second subspace that are included in the subspaces can Partially overlap.
10. A three-dimensional data decoding device, comprising: a processor; and memory, wherein, using the memory, the processor decodes a bitstream obtained by encoding subspaces included in a current space included in three-dimensional data, wherein, when decoding the bitstream, the processor: decodes, from the bitstream, information that is common to the subspaces and includes information indicating coordinates of the current space and information indicating a total number of the subspaces; and decodes, from the bitstream, information indicating a size of a corresponding subspace among the subspaces, and wherein a first subspace and a second subspace that are included in the subspaces can partially overlap.
6. A three-dimensional data decoding device, comprising: a processor; and memory, wherein, using the memory, the processor decodes a bitstream obtained by encoding subspaces included in a current space including three-dimensional points, wherein when decoding of the bitstream, the processor: decodes first information and fourth information from information that is common to the subspaces and included in the bitstream, the first information indicating first coordinates which are coordinates of the current space, the fourth information indicating a total number of the subspaces; decodes second information included in the bitstream, the second information indicating a difference between second coordinates which are coordinates of a corresponding subspace among the subspaces and the first coordinates; and decodes third information included in the bitstream and indicating a size of a corresponding subspace among the subspaces, and wherein a first subspace and a second subspace that are included in the subspaces can Partially overlap.
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) 1-3, 5-7 and 9-10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kuma et al (U.S PG-PUB No. 20200175726 A1), hereinafter Kuma in view of Matsui (JP 2017126890 A).
-Regarding claim 1, Kuma discloses a three-dimensional data encoding method, comprising (Abstract, “three-dimensional … encoding”; FIGS. 1-36; [0058]): generating a bitstream (FIG. 2; [0086], “a bit stream … encoding”; [0301]) by encoding subspaces included in a current space included in three-dimensional data (FIGS. 2-4, quantizer 112, generator 113, encoder 114; FIGS. 11, 24-25, 29; [0058], “encodes data of a point cloud … with use of a voxel … bounding box (Bounding box), including the encoding target”), wherein the generating of the bitstream includes (FIGS. 2-4, 24-25, 29): encoding information that is common to the subspaces (FIG. 2, control information generator; FIGS. 9, 16, 21, 24, 34; [0007]; [0055]; [0072]; [0075];[0092]) and includes information indicating coordinates of the current space (Abstract; FIGS. 4-6, 9; [0104]-[0105]; [0106], “information … coordinate system”; [0108]; [0113]; [0130], “another coordinate system inclined with respect to the world coordinate system”; [0404]) and information indicating some of the subspaces ([0155], “sets identification information … indicating the number of inscribing bounding boxes”; [0159], “indicating the number of alignment bounding boxes”; [0167]; [0267]); and encoding information indicating a size of a corresponding subspace among the subspaces (FIG. 11; [0159], “a size and a position are coincident with a size and a position of the cube”; [0250]-[0251] ; [0267]), and wherein a first subspace and a second subspace that are included in the subspaces can partially overlap (FIGS. 10, 13, 27; [0164]; [0167]; [0419]).
Kuma does not disclose encoding/decoding information indicating a total number of the subspaces.
In the same field of endeavor, Matsui teaches a method to encode/encode a point group of N dimensional space with high compression ratio (Matsui: FIGS. 1-14; [0009]). Matsui further teaches the information indicating a total number of the subspaces that is stored in a header (Matsui: FIGS. 1-4, 6-7; [0026]; [0031]-[0032]). Matsui also teaches encoding/decoding information that is common to the subspaces, and the information indicating a size of the subspaces (Matsui: FIGS. 1-4, 6-7; [0026]. [0031]-[0032]) and coordinate information of a point cloud in an N-dimensional coordinate space (Matsui: [0009]; FIGS. 1-3, 6-7; [0025]-[0026]; [0031]-[0032]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teaching of Kuma with the teaching of Matsui by using header for control information in order to improve compression ratio and decoding analysis.
-Regarding claim 5, Kuma discloses a three-dimensional data decoding method, comprising (Abstract; FIGS. 1-36; [0058]): decoding a bitstream obtained by encoding subspaces included in a current space including three-dimensional data (FIG. 2; [0102], “the encoded data and the control information … from the encoding device 100 may be decoded …”; FIG. 31, analyzer 711, decoder 712; [0361], “decodes … bit stream”; FIG. 33), wherein in the decoding of the bitstream includes (FIGS. 31, 33): decoding, from the bitstream (FIGS. 30-34), information that is common to the subspaces (FIG. 30; FIG. 31, analyzer 711; FIGS. 32-34; FIG. 2) and includes information indicating coordinates of the current space (FIGS. 30-31, 34; FIGS. 4-6, 9) and information indicating some of the subspaces ([0155], “sets identification information … indicating the number of inscribing bounding boxes”; [0159], “indicating the number of alignment bounding boxes”; [0167]; [0267]); and decoding, from the bitstream (FIGS. 30-34), information indicating a size of a corresponding subspace among the subspaces (FIG. 11; [0159], “a size and a position are coincident with a size and a position of the cube”; [0250]-[0251] ; [0267]), and wherein a first subspace and a second subspace that are included in the subspaces can partially overlap (FIGS. 10, 13, 27; [0164]; [0167]; [0419]).
Kuma does not disclose encoding/decoding information indicating a total number of the subspaces.
In the same field of endeavor, Matsui teaches a method to encode/encode a point group of N dimensional space with high compression ratio (Matsui: FIGS. 1-14; [0009]). Matsui teaches encoding/decoding information is common to the subspaces and indicating coordinates of the coordinate information of a point cloud in an N-dimensional coordinate space (Matsui: [0009]; FIGS. 1-3, 6-7; [0025]-[0026]; [0031]-[0032]) Matsui further teaches the information indicating a total number of the subspaces that is stored in a header (Matsui: FIGS. 1-4, 6-7; [0026]; [0031]-[0032]). Matsui also teaches encoding/decoding information that is common to the subspaces and the information indicating sizes of the subspaces (Matsui: FIGS. 1-4, 6-7; [0026]. [0031]-[0032]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teaching of Kuma with the teaching of Matsui by using header for control information in order to improve compression ratio and decoding analysis.
-Regarding claims 2 and 6, Kuma in view of Matsui teaches the encoding method of claim 1 and decoding method of claim 5. The combination further teaches encoding/decoding, using an octree structure (Kuma: [0057]; [0079], “data of the point cloud … any method such as Octree … to generate a signal string”; [0081], “an Octree method …”; See also Matsui: [0002]; [0014]; [0025]-[0026]; [0033]; FIG. 5).
-Regarding claims 3 and 7, Kuma in view of Matsui teaches the encoding method of claim 2 and decoding method of claim 6. The combination further teaches encoding/decoding, using a non-octree structure (Kuma: [0067], “an encoding method … such as … KDtree have been considered”).
-Regarding claim 9, Kuma discloses a three-dimensional data encoding device, comprising (Abstract, “three-dimensional … encoding”; FIGS. 1-36; [0058]): a processor; and memory, wherein, using the memory, the processor generates a bitstream by encoding subspaces included in a current space included in three-dimensional data (FIGS. 2-4, quantizer 112, generator 113, encoder 114; FIGS. 11, 24-25, 29; [0058], “encodes data of a point cloud … with use of a voxel … bounding box (Bounding box), including the encoding target”), wherein, when generating a bitstream (FIG. 2; [0086], “a bit stream … encoding”; [0301]), the processor (FIG. 36), encodes information that is common to the subspaces (FIG. 2, control information generator; FIGS. 9, 16, 21, 24, 34; [0007]; [0055]; [0072]; [0075];[0092]) and includes information indicating coordinates of the current space (Abstract; FIGS. 4-6, 9; [0104]-[0105]; [0106], “information … coordinate system”; [0108]; [0113]; [0130], “another coordinate system inclined with respect to the world coordinate system”; [0404]) and information indicating some of the subspaces ([0155], “sets identification information … indicating the number of inscribing bounding boxes”; [0159], “indicating the number of alignment bounding boxes”; [0167]; [0267]); and encodes information indicating a size of a corresponding subspace among the subspaces (FIG. 11; [0159], “a size and a position are coincident with a size and a position of the cube”; [0250]-[0251] ; [0267]), and wherein a first subspace and a second subspace that are included in the subspaces can partially overlap (FIGS. 10, 13, 27; [0164]; [0167]; [0419]).
Kuma does not disclose encoding/decoding information indicating a total number of the subspaces.
In the same field of endeavor, Matsui teaches a method to encode/encode a point group of N dimensional space with high compression ratio (Matsui: FIGS. 1-14; [0009]). Matsui further teaches the information indicating a total number of the subspaces that is stored in a header (Matsui: FIGS. 1-4, 6-7; [0026]; [0031]-[0032]). Matsui also teaches encoding/decoding information that is common to the subspaces, and the information indicating a size of the subspaces (Matsui: FIGS. 1-4, 6-7; [0026]. [0031]-[0032]) and coordinate information of a point cloud in an N-dimensional coordinate space (Matsui: [0009]; FIGS. 1-3, 6-7; [0025]-[0026]; [0031]-[0032]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teaching of Kuma with the teaching of Matsui by using header for control information in order to improve compression ratio and decoding analysis.
-Regarding claim 10, Kuma discloses a three-dimensional data decoding device, comprising (Abstract; FIGS. 1-36; [0058]): a processor; and memory, wherein, using the memory, the processor (FIG. 36) decodes a bitstream obtained by encoding subspaces included in a current space included in three-dimensional data (FIG. 2; [0102], “the encoded data and the control information … from the encoding device 100 may be decoded …”; FIG. 31, analyzer 711, decoder 712; [0361], “decodes … bit stream”; FIG. 33),, wherein, when decoding the bitstream (FIGS. 31, 33), the processor (FIG. 36): decodes, from the bitstream (FIGS. 30-34), information that is common to the subspaces (FIG. 30; FIG. 31, analyzer 711; FIGS. 32-34; FIG. 2) and includes information indicating coordinates of the current space (FIGS. 30-31, 34; FIGS. 4-6, 9) and information indicating some of the subspaces ([0155], “sets identification information … indicating the number of inscribing bounding boxes”; [0159], “indicating the number of alignment bounding boxes”; [0167]; [0267]); and decodes, from the bitstream (FIGS. 30-34), information indicating a size of a corresponding subspace among the subspaces (FIG. 11; [0159], “a size and a position are coincident with a size and a position of the cube”; [0250]-[0251] ; [0267]), and wherein a first subspace and a second subspace that are included in the subspaces can partially overlap (FIGS. 10, 13, 27; [0164]; [0167]; [0419]).
Kuma does not disclose encoding/decoding information indicating a total number of the subspaces.
In the same field of endeavor, Matsui teaches a method to encode/encode a point group of N dimensional space with high compression ratio (Matsui: FIGS. 1-14; [0009]). Matsui teaches encoding/decoding information is common to the subspaces and indicating coordinates of the coordinate information of a point cloud in an N-dimensional coordinate space (Matsui: [0009]; FIGS. 1-3, 6-7; [0025]-[0026]; [0031]-[0032]) Matsui further teaches the information indicating a total number of the subspaces that is stored in a header (Matsui: FIGS. 1-4, 6-7; [0026]; [0031]-[0032]). Matsui also teaches encoding/decoding information that is common to the subspaces and the information indicating sizes of the subspaces (Matsui: FIGS. 1-4, 6-7; [0026]. [0031]-[0032]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to combine the teaching of Kuma with the teaching of Matsui by using header for control information in order to improve compression ratio and decoding analysis.
Claim(s) 4 and 8 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Kuma et al (U.S PG-PUB No. 20200175726 A1), hereinafter Kuma in view of Matsui (JP 2017126890 A), and further in view of Kato et al (US 20200273211 A1), hereinafter Kato.
-Regarding claims 4 and 8, Kuma in view of Matsui teaches the encoding method of claim 3 and decoding method of claim 7.
Kuma in view of Matsui does not teach wherein the first three-dimensional point is included in the first subspace and the second three-dimensional point is included in the second subspace.
However, Kato is an analogous art pertinent to the problem to be solved in this application and teaches a method for enabling partial control of the resolution of a data group that can be turned into a tree structure (Kato: Abstract; FIGS. 1-29). Kato further teaches wherein the first three-dimensional point is included in the first subspace and the second three-dimensional point is included in the second subspace (Kato: [0058], “there might be a case where Octree encoding and some other encoding tools are combined, and some nodes are made to have a higher resolution by the other encoding tool …”).
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skills in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the teaching of Kuma in view of Matsui with the teaching of Kato by combining octree structure and non-octree structure in order to prevent a decrease in encoding efficiency (Kato: [0057]).
Conclusion
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/XIAO LIU/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2664