DETAILED ACTION
Status of the Claims
Claims 1-29 are pending. No claims have been canceled. No claims have been withdrawn. Claims 14 and 29 are objected to. No claims have been amended. No claims are allowable. Claims 1-29 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103.
Claim Objections
Claims 14 and 29 recite the limitation “wherein the AS includes information indicating a role descriptor DASH element having a value indicating one of geometry, occupancy map, or attribute of a corresponding V-PCC component,” but it is not clear whether the phrase “the AS” refers to the main AS or a component AS of claims 1 and 16.
Claim 29 is objected to because it recites “The method of claim 15,” while claim 15 is directed to a decoding node. The claim is addressed according to its express dependency.
Response to Arguments
The arguments of Applicant’s representative filed August 17, 2026 have been fully considered.
Rejection of Claims 1 and 16 under 35 U.S.C. § 103 over Mekuria and MPEG-DASH.
Applicant’s representative argues that Mekuria lacks a main Adaptation Set and component Adaptation Sets corresponding to V-PCC components, and that MPEG-DASH section B.3 cannot cure that deficiency because B.3 concerns audio. However, Examiner respectfully disagrees. MPEG-DASH expressly contemplates a Period containing multiple Adaptation Sets with @contentType=“video” and requires at least one such Adaptation Set to have Role value “main” (pg. 16, section 4.2.2). MPEG-DASH further expressly states that, where multiple Adaptation Sets have the same component type, including “2 x video Adaptation Sets,” the Player by default selects the Adaptation Set having Role value “main” (pg. 75, section 10.10). MPEG-DASH also defines a media content component as individually encodable into a media stream and an Adaptation Set as encoded versions of one or more media content components (pgs. 12-13, section 3.1). Mekuria separately streams geometry, occupancy, and texture/attribute point-cloud tracks and permits a video-track Representation in an Adaptation Set ([0039], [0049]). Applicant’s argument therefore addresses whether B.3 alone teaches V-PCC component Adaptation Sets, but the rejection does not rely on B.3 alone: Mekuria supplies the separate point-cloud component tracks, MPEG-DASH sections 4.2.2 and 10.10 supply the multiple-video-Adaptation-Set and Role “main” framework, and B.3 supplies the Main/ancillary association structure applied to those tracks.
Rejection of Claims 2, 3, 5-9, 11, 12, 15, 17, 18, 20-24, 26, and 27 under 35 U.S.C. § 103 over Mekuria and MPEG-DASH.
Applicant’s representative argues that claim 2 is patentable at least by virtue of its dependence from claim 1. However, this argument is not persuasive for the reasons provided above with respect to claim 1.
Rejection of Claims 10 and 25 under 35 U.S.C. § 103 over Mekuria and MPEG-DASH in further view of AAPA.
Applicant’s representative argues that claim 10 is patentable at least by virtue of its dependence from claim 1. However, this argument is not persuasive for the reasons provided above with respect to claim 1.
Rejection of Claims 4, 13, 14, 19, 28, and 29 under 35 U.S.C. § 103 over Mekuria and MPEG-DASH in further view of Hamza.
Applicant’s representative argues that claim 4 is patentable at least by virtue of its dependence from claim 1. However, this argument is not persuasive for the reasons provided above with respect to claim 1.
Claim Rejections - 35 U.S.C. § 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.
Claims 1-3, 5-9, 11, 12, 15-18, 20-24, 26, and 27 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over Mekuria et al. (US 2020/0202608 A1; “Mekuria”) in further view of the non-patent literature entitled “Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB); MPEG-DASH Profile for Transport of ISO BMFF Based DVB Services over IP Based Networks” (“MPEG-DASH”).
Regarding claims 16 and 1, Mekuria teaches or suggests a method for a decoding node streaming point cloud (PC) data (PCD) corresponding to a PC via a network using Hyper-Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP) and including a plurality of Video-based PC Compression (V-PCC) components comprising a PC, the method comprising:
receiving information associated with streaming point cloud (PC) data (PCD) corresponding to a PC in a Dynamic Adaptive Streaming of Hyper-Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP) (DASH) Media Presentation Description (MPD). The DASH client receives a streaming manifest describing the point-cloud presentation ([0039], [0049]).
the type comprises geometry, occupancy, or attribute. Separate video tracks (107) carry geometry, occupancy, and texture/attribute information ([0049]).
receiving the DASH MPD over the network. The DASH client receives the Streaming Manifest through HTTP streaming ([0039], [0049]).
However, Mekuria does not teach or suggest the DASH MPD indicates at least: a main Adaptation Set (AS) for the PC. Nonetheless, the combination of Mekuria and MPEG-DASH teaches or suggests the limitation. Mekuria teaches or suggests a video-track Representation in an Adaptation Set ([0039]); MPEG-DASH teaches or suggests multiple video Adaptation Sets, Role “main,” and a Main Adaptation Set with ancillary Adaptation Sets (pg. 16, section 4.2.2; pg. 75, section 10.10; pg. 105, section B.3).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Mekuria so that, in the DASH MPD for the PC, a video-track Representation in an Adaptation Set is the Main Adaptation Set with Role “main” and ancillary Adaptation Sets, because doing so identifies the default related stream while retaining separate delivery.
The combination of Mekuria and MPEG-DASH further teaches or suggests the main AS includes information indicating at least: a value for a codec attribute signifying that the main AS corresponds to Video-based Point Cloud Compression (V-PCC) data. MPEG-DASH teaches or suggests AdaptationSet-level @codecs signaling for video coding format and decoder capability (pg. 22, section 5.1.3); Mekuria teaches or suggests the point-cloud video-coding context through separate geometry, occupancy, and texture/attribute tracks ([0049]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to further modify the system of Mekuria and MPEG-DASH so that the Main Adaptation Set includes @codecs signaling for the point-cloud video-coding format, because doing so lets the Player determine support before requesting media.
The combination of Mekuria and MPEG-DASH further teaches or suggests the main AS includes information indicating at least … an initialization segment comprising at least one V-PCC sequence parameter set for a representation of the PC. For avc1/avc2 Representations, MPEG-DASH teaches or suggests that the Initialization Segment provides decoding information including Sequence Parameter Sets (pg. 22, section 5.1.2); Mekuria teaches or suggests the point-cloud video-coding context ([0035], [0049]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to further modify the system of Mekuria and MPEG-DASH so that the initialization segment of the main AS provides Sequence Parameter Sets for a representation of the PC, because doing so supplies decoder configuration before decoding.
The combination of Mekuria and MPEG-DASH further teaches or suggests the DASH MPD indicates at least … a plurality of component ASs. Mekuria teaches or suggests separately encoded geometry, occupancy, and texture/attribute tracks and a video-track Representation in an Adaptation Set ([0039], [0049]); MPEG-DASH teaches or suggests individually encodable media content components and a Main Adaptation Set associated with ancillary Adaptation Sets (pg. 12, section 3.1; pg. 13, section 3.1; pg. 105, section B.3).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to further modify the system of Mekuria and MPEG-DASH so that, in the DASH MPD, Mekuria’s geometry, occupancy, and texture/attribute tracks are in respective ancillary Adaptation Sets, because doing so preserves separate adaptive delivery while associating tracks needed for point-cloud reconstruction.
The combination of Mekuria and MPEG-DASH further teaches or suggests each of the plurality of component ASs corresponds to one of a plurality of V-PCC components. Mekuria teaches or suggests separate geometry, occupancy, and texture/attribute tracks ([0049]); MPEG-DASH teaches or suggests ancillary Adaptation Sets associated with a Main Adaptation Set (pg. 105, section B.3).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to further modify the system of Mekuria and MPEG-DASH so that each separate geometry, occupancy, or texture/attribute track is in a respective ancillary Adaptation Set, because doing so preserves component identity for reconstruction.
The combination of Mekuria and MPEG-DASH further teaches or suggests each of the plurality of component ASs … includes information indicating at least: a V-PCC Component descriptor identifying a type of the corresponding V-PCC component. Mekuria teaches or suggests separate geometry, occupancy, and texture/attribute tracks ([0049]); MPEG-DASH teaches or suggests AdaptationSet-level EssentialProperty descriptors with machine-interpreted @value semantics (pg. 25, section 5.2.5; pg. 83, section 10.17). The combined teaching uses the descriptor value to identify which separate point-cloud track the AdaptationSet carries.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to further modify the system of Mekuria and MPEG-DASH so that each component AS includes an AdaptationSet-level EssentialProperty @value identifying the geometry, occupancy, or texture/attribute track, because doing so lets the Player identify the component from the MPD.
The combination of Mekuria and MPEG-DASH further teaches or suggests each of the plurality of component ASs … includes information indicating at least … at least one property of the corresponding V-PCC component. Mekuria teaches or suggests separate geometry, occupancy, and texture/attribute component tracks ([0049]); MPEG-DASH teaches or suggests an ancillary Adaptation Set includes a Representation having a bandwidth value (pg. 105, section B.3).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to further modify the system of Mekuria and MPEG-DASH so that each ancillary Adaptation Set corresponding to a V-PCC component includes its Representation’s bandwidth value, because doing so enables bitrate-based selection.
Regarding claims 17 and 2, the combination of Mekuria and MPEG-DASH teaches or suggests the method of claim 16, and MPEG-DASH further teaches or suggests parsing the DASH MPD to generate a representation of the DASH MPD. The Player includes a generic MPD parser and derives a profile-specific MPD by discarding unsupported Adaptation Sets or Representations (pg. 75, section 10.10; pg. 110, section C.2).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to further modify the system of Mekuria and MPEG-DASH so that the generic MPD parser derives a profile-specific MPD, because doing so limits selection to supported content.
Regarding claims 18 and 3, the combination of Mekuria and MPEG-DASH teaches or suggests the method of claim 16, and MPEG-DASH further teaches or suggests identifying available point cloud media content based on one or more of the value for the codec attribute or the initialization segment. A Player uses @codecs to identify compatible content and ignores an AdaptationSet or Representation having an unsupported @codecs value (pg. 22, section 5.1.3; pg. 83, section 10.17).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to further modify the system of Mekuria and MPEG-DASH so that the Player uses @codecs to identify compatible AdaptationSets or Representations, because doing so avoids requesting media the decoder cannot process.
Regarding claims 20 and 5, the combination of Mekuria and MPEG-DASH teaches or suggests the method of claim 16, and MPEG-DASH further teaches or suggests streaming the PC by downloading the initialization segment for the main AS. A Player accesses a Representation’s Initialization Segment at its URL (pg. 69, section 10.8.2.4).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to further modify the system of Mekuria and MPEG-DASH so that, when streaming the PC, the Player accesses an Initialization Segment for a Representation of the main AS at its URL, because doing so supplies decoder configuration before playback.
Regarding claims 21 and 6, the combination of Mekuria and MPEG-DASH teaches or suggests the method of claim 20, and Mekuria further teaches or suggests receiving time-aligned segments from the main AS and the plurality of component ASs over HTTP. The synchronized point-cloud tracks use the same segment length, timescale, and clock source and are delivered over HTTP ([0049], [0052]).
MPEG-DASH further teaches or suggests storing the time-aligned segments in a memory buffer. The Player buffers downloaded media (pg. 66, section 10.7).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to further modify the system of Mekuria and MPEG-DASH so that the Player stores the time-aligned segments in a memory buffer, because doing so decouples HTTP delivery from decoding.
Regarding claims 22 and 7, the combination of Mekuria and MPEG-DASH teaches or suggests the method of claim 21, and MPEG-DASH further teaches or suggests concatenating the time-aligned segments with respective initialization segments. A Media Segment enables playback when combined with preceding segments and an Initialization Segment, and period-continuous Adaptation Sets form conforming Segment sequences by concatenation (pg. 13, section 3.1; pg. 62, section 10.5.2.3).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to further modify the system of Mekuria and MPEG-DASH so that each time-aligned Media Segment is combined with its respective Initialization Segment, because doing so supplies decoder configuration with the coded media.
Regarding claims 23 and 8, the combination of Mekuria and MPEG-DASH teaches or suggests the method of claim 22, but does not teach or suggest generating a V-PCC bitstream using the time-aligned segments. Nonetheless, ISO BMFF teaches or suggests the stream-construction operation. Hint tracks reference media-track sample data and specify its placement in a constructed elementary stream (ISO BMFF, pg. 19, section 7.3). In the inherited V-PCC context, the synchronized point-cloud component segments from claim 22 are the referenced sample data and are placed in the decoder-input bitstream.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Mekuria and MPEG-DASH so that the dynamic packager uses ISO BMFF’s sample-reference and placement operations to generate the decoder-input V-PCC bitstream from the synchronized point-cloud segments, because doing so allows the decoder to consume the separately delivered synchronized component streams through a single codec input.
Regarding claims 24 and 9, the combination of Mekuria, MPEG-DASH, and ISO BMFF teaches or suggests the method of claim 23, and Mekuria further teaches or suggests decoding the V-PCC bitstream. The synchronized geometry, occupancy, texture/attribute, and metadata are decoded to reconstruct the point cloud ([0052]).
Regarding claims 26 and 11, the combination of Mekuria and MPEG-DASH teaches or suggests the method of claim 16, and MPEG-DASH further teaches or suggests the initialization segment of the main AS includes information indicating a single initialization segment at an adaptation level, and V-PCC sequence parameter sets for a plurality of representations of the main AS. For avc1/avc2 Representations, one common Initialization Segment contains decoding parameters, including Sequence Parameter Sets, for its Representations (pg. 22, section 5.1.2). The point-cloud video-coding context is inherited from claim 16.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to further modify the system of Mekuria and MPEG-DASH so that the main AS includes one common Initialization Segment at the adaptation level containing Sequence Parameter Sets for its point-cloud Representations, because doing so avoids duplicate decoder configuration.
Regarding claims 27 and 12, the combination of Mekuria and MPEG-DASH teaches or suggests the method of claim 16, and MPEG-DASH further teaches or suggests the main AS includes information indicating an initialization segment for each of multiple representations of the PC, and each initialization segment that corresponds to a representation of the PC includes a V-PCC sequence parameter set for that representation. Representation-specific Initialization Segment URLs are provided (pg. 95, section 11.15.2), and, for avc1/avc2 Representations, an Initialization Segment contains Sequence Parameter Sets (pg. 22, section 5.1.2). The point-cloud video-coding context is inherited from claim 16.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to further modify the system of Mekuria and MPEG-DASH so that each point-cloud Representation of the main AS has a respective Initialization Segment containing its Sequence Parameter Sets, because doing so prevents use of decoder configuration that does not correspond to the selected Representation.
Regarding claim 15, the combination of Mekuria and MPEG-DASH teaches or suggests the decoding node of claim 1, and Mekuria further teaches or suggests the decoding node is a DASH streaming client. The client receives the streaming manifest and point-cloud media through MPEG-DASH streaming ([0039], [0049]).
Claims 4, 13, 14, 19, 28, and 29 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over Mekuria and MPEG-DASH, as applied to claims 1, 15, and 16 above, in further view of the non-patent literature entitled “Adaptive Streaming of Interactive Free Viewpoint Videos to Heterogeneous Clients” (“Hamza”).
Regarding claims 19 and 4, the combination of Mekuria and MPEG-DASH teaches or suggests the method of claim 16, but does not teach or suggest determining a number of unique point clouds based on the V-PCC Component descriptor. Nonetheless, the combination of Mekuria and Hamza teaches or suggests the limitation. Hamza assigns captured views sequential identifiers and places a Viewpoint descriptor in a component AdaptationSet (Hamza, pg. 6, section 4.1, listing 3). Mekuria supplies separate geometry, occupancy, and texture/attribute tracks belonging to a point-cloud presentation (Mekuria, [0049]). Applied to the inherited V-PCC Component descriptor, one identifier is shared by the component descriptors of one point cloud and distinct identifiers identify distinct point clouds.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Mekuria and MPEG-DASH so that the V-PCC Component descriptors for one point cloud share one identifier and the Player determines the number of point clouds from distinct identifiers, because doing so prevents separately signaled components of one point cloud from being counted as separate point clouds.
Regarding claims 28 and 13, the combination of Mekuria and MPEG-DASH teaches or suggests the method of claim 16, but does not teach or suggest the V-PCC Component descriptor includes information indicating a video codec attribute for a codec used for encoding a corresponding PC component. Nonetheless, the combination of MPEG-DASH and Hamza teaches or suggests the limitation. MPEG-DASH teaches or suggests AdaptationSet-level EssentialProperty descriptors with machine-interpreted value semantics (pg. 25, section 5.2.5; pg. 83, section 10.17); Hamza teaches or suggests a component-specific codecs value in a component AdaptationSet (pg. 6, section 4.1, listing 3). The combined teaching places the component-specific codec value in the component descriptor.
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Mekuria and MPEG-DASH so that the component AdaptationSet EssentialProperty has Hamza’s component-specific codecs value, because doing so lets the Player determine both component identity and decoder requirement before requesting or decoding that component.
Regarding claim 14, the combination of Mekuria and MPEG-DASH teaches or suggests the decoding node of claim 1, but does not teach or suggest the AS includes information indicating a role descriptor DASH element having a value indicating one of geometry, occupancy map, or attribute of a corresponding V-PCC component. Nonetheless, the combination of Mekuria and Hamza teaches or suggests the underlying role mapping. Hamza uses Role value “t” for texture in a component AdaptationSet, and Mekuria’s corresponding point-cloud track is texture/attribute; the combined role mapping identifies the texture/attribute component (Hamza, pg. 6, section 4.1, listing 3; Mekuria, [0049]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Mekuria and MPEG-DASH so that the component AdaptationSet Role value “t” identifies the texture/attribute component, because doing so lets the Player determine the component’s processing role from the MPD before decoding.
Regarding claim 29, the combination of Mekuria and MPEG-DASH teaches or suggests the method of claim 15, but does not teach or suggest the AS includes information indicating a role descriptor DASH element having a value indicating one of geometry, occupancy map, or attribute of a corresponding V-PCC component. Nonetheless, the combination of Mekuria and Hamza teaches or suggests the underlying role mapping. Hamza uses Role value “t” for texture in a component AdaptationSet, and Mekuria’s corresponding point-cloud track is texture/attribute; the combined role mapping identifies the texture/attribute component (Hamza, pg. 6, section 4.1, listing 3; Mekuria, [0049]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Mekuria and MPEG-DASH so that the component AdaptationSet Role value “t” identifies the texture/attribute component, because doing so lets the Player determine the component’s processing role from the MPD before decoding.
Claims 10 and 25 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. § 103 as being unpatentable over Mekuria and MPEG-DASH, as applied to claims 1 and 16 above, in further view of Applicant Admitted Prior Art (“AAPA”).
Regarding claims 25 and 10, the combination of Mekuria and MPEG-DASH teaches or suggests the method of claim 16, and Mekuria further teaches or suggests an International Organization for Standardization (ISO) Base Media File Format (ISOBMFF) is used as a media container for V-PCC content. The point-cloud component video tracks use ISOBMFF ([0010]).
However, the combination of Mekuria and MPEG-DASH does not teach or suggest the initialization segment of the main AS includes a MetaBox containing one or more V-PCC GroupBox instances providing metadata information associated with V-PCC tracks. Nonetheless, AAPA teaches or suggests the limitation. Applicant’s specification acknowledges that, for ISOBMFF V-PCC content, an initialization segment may include a MetaBox containing VPCCGroupBox instances describing V-PCC tracks and their relationships ([0096]).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the system of Mekuria and MPEG-DASH so that the initialization segment of the main AS includes a MetaBox containing one or more VPCCGroupBox instances providing metadata describing V-PCC tracks and their relationships, because doing so provides track identity and relationship information before decoding.
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 extension fee 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 date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Andrew Georgandellis whose telephone number is 571-270-3991. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday through Friday, 7:30-5:00 PM EST. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Tonia Dollinger, can be reached on 571-272-4170. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding application status may be obtained from Patent Center; unpublished application information is available there to authorized users. Questions about access to the USPTO patent electronic filing system may be directed to the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free).
/ANDREW C GEORGANDELLIS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2459
Prosecution Insights