CTNF 18/763,699 CTNF 97705 DETAILED ACTION Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status 07-03-aia AIA 15-10-aia The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA. This communication is in response to the Application No. 18/763,699 filed 07/03/2024. Claims 1-20 are pending. Priority 02-26 AIA Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers submitted under 35. U.S.C 119(a)-(d), which papers have been placed of record in the file. Information Disclosure Statement The information disclosure statement(s) (IDS) submitted on 07/03/2024, 02/18/2026, and 03/16/2026 have been entered and considered. Initialed copies of the PTO-1449 by the examiner are attached. Claim Objections 07-29-01 AIA Claim (s) 4, 6-7 and 20 objected to because of the following informalities: Claim 4 should spell out the full term(s) before the first use, followed by the abbreviation in parenthesis for the terms IPPP and IBBB. Claims 6 and 7 recites the terms “one third indication” and “one second indication” but do not explicitly recite “one first indication” in the claims themselves or in the parent claims. Applicant is advised to properly number/list the “indications” in order to avoid 112b clarity issues. Claim 20 should spell out the full term(s) before the first use of the independent claim, followed by the abbreviation in parenthesis for the term(s) PC, such as for example, point cloud (PC) . Appropriate correction is required. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102 07-06 AIA 15-10-15 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. 07-07-aia AIA 07-07 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 – 07-08-aia AIA (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. 07-12-aia AIA (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. 07-15-03-aia AIA Claim (s) 1-11, 13 and 15-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Lee et al. (US 20240414372 A1) . Regarding claim 1, Lee discloses method for point cloud coding, comprising: determining, during a conversion between a current point cloud (PC) sample of a point cloud sequence and a bitstream of the point cloud sequence (“The point cloud video encoder 10002 may output a bitstream containing the encoded point cloud video data. The bitstream may contain not only the encoded point cloud video data, but also signaling information related to encoding of the point cloud video data” Lee, [0065]; Fig. 1) , a target PC sample for the current PC sample based on at least one reconstructed PC sample of at least one reference PC sample of the current PC sample (“In processing the point cloud data, the bitstream may contain information indicating whether the prediction is performed based on a plurality of frames, and may contain information configured to identify the one or more frames referenced to predict the current point. Thus, the reception device/method according to the embodiments may reconstruct the current point based on the information indicating whether multi-frame based prediction is performed and the identification information about the referenced frames” Lee, [0482]; i.e., the target PC sample equivalates to a prediction frame/point and the current frame/point is reconstructed based on one or more reference point/frames) ; and performing the conversion based on the target PC sample (“FIG. 15 illustrates inter-frame prediction according to embodiments... The transmission/reception device/method according to the embodiments may perform inter-frame prediction (inter prediction) when generating a predictive tree structure for predicting point cloud data” Lee, [0256]-[0248]; Fig. 1) . Regarding claim 2, Lee discloses the method of claim 1, wherein samples of the point cloud sequence are divided into a plurality of groups of samples (GOSs), and the plurality of GOSs are associated with at least one GOS structure (“The GoF 1600 according to the embodiments represents a group of frames, which may also be referred to as a GoP. The frames constituting the GoF 1600 include an intra frame (I-frame) 1610, a predicted frame (P-frame) 1620, and/or a bi-directional frame (B-frame)... The P-frame 1620 represents a frame that is predicted by referencing the previous frame such as the I-frame 1610, or another frame such as the P-frame 1620. The B-frame may represent a frame predicted by referencing the I-frame 1610 or the P-frame 1620 in both directions.” Lee [0252]; i.e., the P-frame and B-frame have different reference relationship structures) . Regarding claim 3, Lee discloses the method of claim 2, wherein samples in a first GOS structure of the at least one GOS structure have a reference relationship different from samples in a second GOS structure of the at least one GOS structure, the second GOS structure being different from the first GOS structure (“The GoF 1600 according to the embodiments represents a group of frames, which may also be referred to as a GoP. The frames constituting the GoF 1600 include an intra frame (I-frame) 1610, a predicted frame (P-frame) 1620, and/or a bi-directional frame (B-frame)... The P-frame 1620 represents a frame that is predicted by referencing the previous frame such as the I-frame 1610, or another frame such as the P-frame 1620. The B-frame may represent a frame predicted by referencing the I-frame 1610 or the P-frame 1620 in both directions.” Lee [0252]) , or wherein a first GOS of the plurality of GOSs has a first GOS structure of the at least one GOS structure, the first GOS comprises a set of samples following a first sample in the first GOS, the first sample is at the first position in the first GOS, each of the set of samples has a single reference sample immediately preceding a respective sample, or wherein a second GOS of the plurality of GOSs has a second GOS structure of the at least one GOS structure, the second GOS comprises a set of samples following a first sample in the second GOS, the first sample is at the first position in the second GOS, each of the set of samples has two reference samples. Regarding claim 4, Lee discloses the method of claim 3, wherein the first GOS structure is an IPPP GOS structure, and/or wherein the second GOS structure is an IBBB GOS structure (“The GoF 1600 according to the embodiments represents a group of frames, which may also be referred to as a GoP. The frames constituting the GoF 1600 include an intra frame (I-frame) 1610, a predicted frame (P-frame) 1620, and/or a bi-directional frame (B-frame)” Lee, [0252]) . Regarding claim 5, Lee discloses the method of claim 2, wherein the at least one GOS structure comprises a single GOS structure, or wherein the at least one GOS structure comprises a plurality of GOS structures (“The frames constituting the GoF 1600 include an intra frame (I-frame) 1610, a predicted frame (P-frame) 1620, and/or a bi-directional frame (B-frame)” Lee, [0252]) . Regarding claim 6, Lee discloses the method of claim 2, wherein a plurality of GOS structures are applied to all of the plurality of groups of samples, and for the current PC sample, there is at least one third indication indicating that a first GOS structure of the plurality of GOS structures is applied to current PC sample (“When the current frame is predicted using one or more reference frames, it may be signaled to the transmission and reception devices according to embodiments whether the positions of the reference frames are all ahead of the current frame in display order, are bi-directionally divided into the front and back of the current frame in display order, or are all behind the current frame. Further, whether only a single reference frame is used or multiple reference frames are used may be signaled” Lee, [0268]) . Regarding claim 7, Lee discloses the method of claim 6, wherein the at least one second indication or the at least one third indication is indicted in the bitstream (“The bitstream according to the embodiments may contain signaling information including a sequence parameter set (SPS) for signaling of a sequence level, a geometry parameter set (GPS) for signaling of geometry information coding, an attribute parameter set (APS) for signaling of attribute information coding, and a tile parameter set (TPS) for signaling of a tile level, and slice data” Lee, [0202]; wherein “information about point (or node) prediction based on multiple reference frames may be contained in the sequence parameter set (SPS). That is, information about prediction based on multiple reference frames may be signaled through the SPS” Lee, [0377]; see [0378]) , and/or wherein the at least one second indication or the at least one third indication is coded with one of fixed-length coding, unary coding, or truncated unary coding, and/or wherein the at least one second indication or the at least one third indication is coded in a predictive way. Regarding claim 8, Lee discloses the method of claim 2, wherein a first GOS structure for a first GOS of the plurality of GOSs is determined based on GOS motion information of the first GOS (“for effective compression of a point cloud having one or more frames, motion estimation and data prediction may be performed considering the characteristics of the point cloud” Lee, [0245]; “considering a cumulative reference frame for inter-frame motion in a predictive geometry approach for point cloud content” Lee, [0487]). Regarding claim 9, Lee discloses the method of claim 8, wherein the GOS motion information is determined at an encoder (“The transmission processor 12012 according to the embodiments may transmit each bitstream containing encoded geometry and/or encoded attributes and metadata information... The bitstream according to the embodiments may contain signaling information including a sequence parameter set (SPS) for signaling of a sequence level, a geometry parameter set (GPS) for signaling of geometry information coding, an attribute parameter set (APS) for signaling of attribute information coding, and a tile parameter set (TPS) for signaling of a tile level, and slice data “ Lee, [0202]; “In the bitstream according to embodiments, information about point (or node) prediction based on multiple reference frames may be contained in the sequence parameter set (SPS). That is, information about prediction based on multiple reference frames may be signaled through the SPS” Lee, [0377]; i.e., “considering a plurality of reference frames for inter-frame motion prediction in a predictive geometry approach for point cloud content. By using multiple frames, the accuracy of the prediction may be improved” Lee, [0486]) , and/or wherein the GOS motion information is motion information between a first sample in the first GOS and a second sample in a second GOS immediately following the first GOS, the first sample being at the first position in the first GOS and the second sample being at the first position in the second GOS, and/or wherein the GOS motion information is motion information between a first sample in the first GOS and a second sample in the first GOS, the first sample being at the first position in the first GOS and the second sample being at the last position in the first GOS, and/or wherein the GOS motion information is motion information between a first I-sample in the first GOS and a next I-sample in the first GOS, and/or wherein if the GOS motion information meets a GOS constrain condition, the first GOS structure is determined to be an IBBB GOS structure, and if the GOS motion information does not meet the GOS constrain condition, the first GOS structure is determined to be an IPPP GOS structure (“When the current frame is predicted using one or more reference frames, it may be signaled to the transmission and reception devices according to embodiments whether the positions of the reference frames are all ahead of the current frame in display order, are bi-directionally divided into the front and back of the current frame in display order, or are all behind the current frame. Further, whether only a single reference frame is used or multiple reference frames are used may be signaled” Lee, [0268]; i.e., the inter-frame motion for the one or more frames indicates which type of sequence structure is determined, e.g., bi-directionally divided into front and back indicates IBBB structure and a single reference with all behind the current frame indicates IPPP structure, see [0421]) . Regarding claim 10, Lee discloses the method of claim 9, wherein the GOS constrain condition is that the GOS motion information is less than at least one threshold (“whether the positions of the reference frames are all ahead of the current frame in display order, are bi-directionally divided into the front and back of the current frame in display order, or are all behind the current frame. Further, whether only a single reference frame is used or multiple reference frames are used may be signaled.” Lee, [0268]; i.e., the threshold here is indicated by the number of reference frames used to predict the current frame, such as a bi-directional or single reference for inter-frame motion prediction) . Regarding claim 11, Lee discloses the method of claim 10, wherein the at least one threshold is determined at an encoder, or wherein the at least one threshold is pre-defined (“predictionDirection: May indicate the direction of information to be selected using the mode information below among the candidate points selected to predict each node in the current frame after creating the cumulative reference frame. This information may be inherited from the GPS, or may be managed as a separate index” Lee, [0428], see additionally [0421]; wherein the threshold is defined at the encoder “the encoded geometry and/or the encoded attributes and the metadata information according to the embodiments are configured into one bitstream... The bitstream according to the embodiments may contain signaling information including a sequence parameter set (SPS) for signaling of a sequence level, a geometry parameter set (GPS) for signaling of geometry information coding, an attribute parameter set (APS) for signaling of attribute information coding, and a tile parameter set (TPS) for signaling of a tile level, and slice data” Lee, [0202]) . Regarding claim 13, Lee discloses the method of claim 1, wherein a set of attribute inter thresholds are determined based on frame distance between the current PC sample and each of the at least one reference PC sample (“select, in the reference frame, predictors or candidate points based on their difference in distance from the current point according to a specific threshold. For example, when a difference in characteristic between a point and the current point is greater than a threshold, the point may not be selected as a predictor or candidate point” Lee, [0342]) . Regarding claim 15, Lee discloses the method of claim 1, wherein if a reconstructed PC sample is a reference PC sample for at least one PC sample of the point cloud sequence, the reconstructed PC sample is temporarily stored (“When prediction is performed based on one or more reference frames, the frame information to be referenced may be stored until prediction of the frame containing the corresponding node ends” Lee, [0260]) . Regarding claim 16, Lee discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the conversion includes encoding the current PC sample into the bitstream (“The transmission/reception device/method according to the embodiments may correspond to or be combined with the transmission/reception device of FIG. 1, the transmission/reception device of FIG. 2, the point cloud encoder of FIG. 4, the point cloud decoder of FIGS. 10 and 11” Lee, [339]; Fig. 48) . Regarding claim 17, Lee discloses the method of claim 1, wherein the conversion includes decoding the current PC sample from the bitstream (“The transmission/reception device/method according to the embodiments may correspond to or be combined with the transmission/reception device of FIG. 1, the transmission/reception device of FIG. 2, the point cloud encoder of FIG. 4, the point cloud decoder of FIGS. 10 and 11” Lee, [339]; Fig. 49) . Regarding claim 18, Lee discloses an apparatus for processing point cloud data comprising a processor and a non-transitory memory with instructions thereon, wherein the instructions upon execution by the processor, cause the processor to perform acts comprising (non-transitory CRM executed by one or more processors, Lee [0493]) : determining, during a conversion between a current point cloud (PC) sample of a point cloud sequence and a bitstream of the point cloud sequence (“The point cloud video encoder 10002 may output a bitstream containing the encoded point cloud video data. The bitstream may contain not only the encoded point cloud video data, but also signaling information related to encoding of the point cloud video data” Lee, [0065]; Fig. 1) , a target PC sample for the current PC sample based on at least one reconstructed PC sample of at least one reference PC sample of the current PC sample (“In processing the point cloud data, the bitstream may contain information indicating whether the prediction is performed based on a plurality of frames, and may contain information configured to identify the one or more frames referenced to predict the current point. Thus, the reception device/method according to the embodiments may reconstruct the current point based on the information indicating whether multi-frame based prediction is performed and the identification information about the referenced frames” Lee, [0482]; i.e., the target PC sample equivalates to a prediction frame/point and the current frame/point is reconstructed based on one or more reference point/frames) ; and performing the conversion based on the target PC sample (“FIG. 15 illustrates inter-frame prediction according to embodiments... The transmission/reception device/method according to the embodiments may perform inter-frame prediction (inter prediction) when generating a predictive tree structure for predicting point cloud data” Lee, [0256]-[0248]; Fig. 1) . Regarding claim 19, Lee discloses a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that cause a processor to perform acts comprising (non-transitory CRM executed by one or more processors, Lee [0493]) : determining, during a conversion between a current point cloud (PC) sample of a point cloud sequence and a bitstream of the point cloud sequence (“The point cloud video encoder 10002 may output a bitstream containing the encoded point cloud video data. The bitstream may contain not only the encoded point cloud video data, but also signaling information related to encoding of the point cloud video data” Lee, [0065]; Fig. 1) , a target PC sample for the current PC sample based on at least one reconstructed PC sample of at least one reference PC sample of the current PC sample (“In processing the point cloud data, the bitstream may contain information indicating whether the prediction is performed based on a plurality of frames, and may contain information configured to identify the one or more frames referenced to predict the current point. Thus, the reception device/method according to the embodiments may reconstruct the current point based on the information indicating whether multi-frame based prediction is performed and the identification information about the referenced frames” Lee, [0482]; i.e., the target PC sample equivalates to a prediction frame/point and the current frame/point is reconstructed based on one or more reference point/frames) ; and performing the conversion based on the target PC sample (“FIG. 15 illustrates inter-frame prediction according to embodiments... The transmission/reception device/method according to the embodiments may perform inter-frame prediction (inter prediction) when generating a predictive tree structure for predicting point cloud data” Lee, [0256]-[0248]; Fig. 1) . Regarding claim 20, Lee discloses a non-transitory computer-readable recording medium storing a bitstream of a point cloud sequence which is generated by a method performed by a point cloud processing apparatus (non-transitory CRM executed by one or more processors, Lee [0493]; [0065]; Fig. 1) , wherein the method comprises: determining a target PC sample for a current PC sample of the point cloud sequence based on at least one reconstructed PC sample of at least one reference PC sample of the current PC sample (“In processing the point cloud data, the bitstream may contain information indicating whether the prediction is performed based on a plurality of frames, and may contain information configured to identify the one or more frames referenced to predict the current point. Thus, the reception device/method according to the embodiments may reconstruct the current point based on the information indicating whether multi-frame based prediction is performed and the identification information about the referenced frames” Lee, [0482]; i.e., the target PC sample equivalates to a prediction frame/point and the current frame/point is reconstructed based on one or more reference point/frames) ; and generating the bitstream based on the target PC sample (“FIG. 15 illustrates inter-frame prediction according to embodiments... The transmission/reception device/method according to the embodiments may perform inter-frame prediction (inter prediction) when generating a predictive tree structure for predicting point cloud data” Lee, [0256]-[0248]; Fig. 1) . Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 07-20-aia AIA 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. 07-21-aia AIA Claim (s) 12 and 14 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Lee et al. in view of Park et al. (US 20220337872 A1) . Regarding claim 12 , Lee discloses the method of claim 1 except for specifically teaching wherein performing the conversion comprises: determining a cumulative global motion between the current PC sample and the reference PC sample based on at least one global motion for at least one PC sample of the point cloud sequence; and performing the conversion based on the cumulative global motion. However, Park in the same field of endeavor teaches wherein performing the conversion comprises: determining a cumulative global motion between the current PC sample and the reference PC sample based on at least one global motion for at least one PC sample of the point cloud sequence; and performing the conversion based on the cumulative global motion (“the inter-frame relation may be determined based on a difference in global motion vector between the current frame and the previous frame. A global motion vector is a motion vectors for the entire point cloud data included in the frame. By comparing the global motion vector difference between frames with a specific threshold that is set arbitrarily, it may be determined whether the frames are related” Park, [0239]) . Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine Lee and Park before the effective filing date of the claimed invention. The motivation for this combination of references would have been to determine whether the frames are related when performing inter-frame prediction (Park, [0239]). This motivation for the combination of Lee and Park is supported by KSR exemplary rationale (G) Some teaching, suggestion, or motivation in the prior art that would have led one of ordinary skill to modify the prior art reference or to combine prior art reference teachings to arrive at the claimed invention. MPEP 2141 (III). Regarding claim 14 Lee and Park teach the method of claim 1, wherein the current PC sample comprises a current point, and performing the conversion comprises: determining, based on a search range for the current PC sample, at least one neighboring point of the current point from points in the current PC sample and the at least one reference PC sample, the search range being based on a reference relationship of the current PC sample (“Application of context continuity to frames of a GoF may mean continuously using context information (context model, arithmetic model, probability range information) about a related reference frame during encoding/decoding. In encoding/decoding point cloud data, the point cloud data transmission device/reception device according to the embodiments may search for a relation between the current frame and other frames, and continuously use the context of a frame having the relation, that is, a reference frame. Whether a continuity of the context is available (whether there is a relation between the frames) may be defined inside or outside the GoF structure” Park, [0228]) ; and performing the conversion based on the at least one neighboring point (“The point cloud encoder according to the embodiments may generate a predictor for points to perform prediction transform coding for setting a predicted attribute (or predicted attribute value) of each point. That is, N predictors may be generated for N points. The predictor according to the embodiments may calculate a weight (=1/distance) based on the LOD value of each point, indexing information about neighboring points present within a set distance for each LOD, and a distance to the neighboring points” Park, [0127]) . The motivation for this combination of references would have been to use context of frame/points of neighboring frames in relation to a current frame to determine a continuity for inter-frame prediction(s) (Park, [0228]). This motivation for the combination of Lee and Park is supported by KSR exemplary rationale (G) Some teaching, suggestion, or motivation in the prior art that would have led one of ordinary skill to modify the prior art reference or to combine prior art reference teachings to arrive at the claimed invention. MPEP 2141 (III) . Conclusion 07-96 AIA The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. Zhang et al. (US 20220392114 A1) – determines to use a prediction mode for coding (encoding/decoding) information associated with a current point in a point cloud using the information associated with the current point and is predicted based on one or more neighbor points of the current point, including using integer operations and a distance-based weighted average value that is based on distances of one or more neighbor points to the current point. Panchal et al. (US 20100296579 A1) – determines whether to encode a key frame of a group of pictures using a bi-directional prediction mode using an error value between a current key frame of a current group of picture and a virtual key frame. Huang et al. (US 20120140825 A1) – encoding a video sequence by exploiting temporal redundancy using motion compensated prediction. Different types of group of pictures (GOP) are used such as IPPP and IBBP. Zhu et al. (US 20240087176 A1) – a target point cloud (PC) group includes at least one point and an attribute coding mode of the target PC group is determined. Prediction attribute information of each target PC group is obtained based on attribute prediction of the respective point in the target PC group. Reconstruction attribute information of each point in the target PC group is determined according to the prediction attribute information and the reconstruction residual information of the respective point in the target PC group. Inquiries Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to EMMANUEL SILVA-AVINA whose telephone number is (571)270-0729. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 11 AM - 8 PM EST. Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Chineyere Wills-Burns can be reached at (571) 272-9752. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /EMMANUEL SILVA-AVINA/Examiner, Art Unit 2673 /CHINEYERE WILLS-BURNS/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2673 Application/Control Number: 18/763,699 Page 2 Art Unit: 2673 Application/Control Number: 18/763,699 Page 3 Art Unit: 2673 Application/Control Number: 18/763,699 Page 4 Art Unit: 2673 Application/Control Number: 18/763,699 Page 5 Art Unit: 2673 Application/Control Number: 18/763,699 Page 6 Art Unit: 2673 Application/Control Number: 18/763,699 Page 7 Art Unit: 2673 Application/Control Number: 18/763,699 Page 8 Art Unit: 2673 Application/Control Number: 18/763,699 Page 9 Art Unit: 2673 Application/Control Number: 18/763,699 Page 10 Art Unit: 2673 Application/Control Number: 18/763,699 Page 11 Art Unit: 2673 Application/Control Number: 18/763,699 Page 12 Art Unit: 2673 Application/Control Number: 18/763,699 Page 13 Art Unit: 2673 Application/Control Number: 18/763,699 Page 14 Art Unit: 2673 Application/Control Number: 18/763,699 Page 15 Art Unit: 2673 Application/Control Number: 18/763,699 Page 16 Art Unit: 2673
