DETAILED ACTION
Response to Amendment
The Amendment filed 02/24/2026 has been entered. Claims 1-15 remain pending in the application.
Response to Arguments
Regarding the double patenting rejection, examiner notes that Applicant’s amendments to the Claims (filed 02/24/2026) have overcome each and every double patenting rejection as previously set forth in the Non-final Office Action mailed 11/24/2025. Therefore, each and every double patenting rejection has been withdrawn. However, regarding the amended claim language, applicant’s arguments (filed 02/24/2026) have been fully considered and are rendered moot in view of the new ground(s) of rejection necessitated by amendment.
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 (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) 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.
Claims 1, 6-7, and 13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Laroche et al., US Patent Application Publication No.: 2018/0253867 A1, hereby Laroche.
Regarding Claims 1, 6-7, and 13, Laroche discloses an encoding/decoding method and encoding/decoding device (Figs. 1-4, 7-9, and 16), comprising:
“encoding connectivity data of vertices for mesh data (Figs. 1-4 and 7-9, and [0096], [0099], [0105], and [0140]-[0141]; see also [0071]-[0084] disclosing encoding/decoding of textured three-dimensional (3D) objects into a bitstream; see also Figs. 8-9, and [0163], [0172]-[0175], [0178]-[0180], and [0185]; see also Fig. 16);
encoding position data of the vertices (Figs. 1-4 and 7-9, and [0096], [0099], [0105], and [0140]-[0141]; see also [0071]-[0084] disclosing encoding/decoding of textured three-dimensional (3D) objects into a bitstream; see also Figs. 8-9, and [0163], [0172]-[0175], [0178]-[0180], and [0185]; see also Fig. 16); and
encoding texture coordinate data of the vertices, and wherein the texture coordinate data is encoded based on a coding order for the connectivity data (Figs. 8-9, and [0163], [0172]-[0175], [0178]-[0180], and [0185], disclosing the claimed texture coordinate data encoded based on a coding order for the connectivity data; see also Figs. 1-4 and 7-9, and [0096], [0099], [0105], and [0140]-[0141]; see also [0071]-[0084]; see also Fig. 16).”
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2-5, 8-12, and 14-15 are 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.
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
Examiner notes that multiple references cited disclose point cloud compression. For example, the following references show similar features in the claims, although not relied upon: Schwarz (US 20230068178 A1), Fig. 8.
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). 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 KATHLEEN M WALSH whose telephone number is (571)270-0423. The examiner can normally be reached M-F 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Chris Kelley can be reached at (571) 272-7331. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/KATHLEEN M WALSH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2482
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