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 .
Response to Applicant’s Arguments
Applicant’s arguments filed 04/21/2026 have been fully considered, and they are persuasive. The requirement for restriction is withdrawn in whole, the claims 1-9 of group I have been reinstated.
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.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 1-2, 8-11, 17-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Van der AUWERA et al (20210407143) in view of LASSERRE et al (20200413080).
A per claim 1, Auwera teaches the claimed “encoding method,” comprising: “obtaining a tree structure for geometry information of a point cloud, wherein the tree structure has at least two node-layers, and each of the at least two node-layers comprises at least one node” (Auwera, [0024] - As part of encoding a point cloud, a G-PCC encoder may generate an octree. Each node of the octree corresponds to a cuboid space. For ease of explanation, this disclosure may, in some circumstances, refer to a node and the cuboid space corresponding to the node interchangeably. Nodes of the octree can have zero child nodes or eight child nodes. In other examples, nodes can be divided into child nodes according to other tree structures. The child nodes of a parent correspond to equally sized cuboids within the cuboid corresponding to the parent node. The positions of individual points of a point cloud can be signaled relative to nodes corresponding to cuboids containing the points. If a node does not contain any points of the point cloud, the node is said to be unoccupied. If the node is unoccupied, it may not be necessary to signal additional data with respect to the node. Conversely, if a node contains one or more points of the point cloud, the node is said to be occupied); “determining planar-encoding-mode eligibility corresponding to a first node-layer of the tree structure” (Auwera, [0037] - Although memory 106 and memory 120 are shown separately from Geometry-based point cloud compression (G-PCC) encoder 200 and G-PCC decoder 300 in this example, it should be understood that G-PCC encoder 200 and G-PCC decoder 300 may also include internal memories for functionally similar or equivalent purposes. Furthermore, memory 106 and memory 120 may store encoded point cloud data, e.g., output from G-PCC encoder 200 and input to G-PCC decoder 300; [0107] - G-PCC encoder 200 and G-PCC decoder 300 may perform arithmetic encoding (e.g., CABAC encoding) and arithmetic decoding (e.g., CABAC decoding) on certain syntax elements, such as a planar mode flag (e.g., is_planar_flag) and a plane position syntax element (e.g., plane_position), relative to the planar coding mode. As part of performing arithmetic coding, G-PCC encoder 200 or G-PCC decoder 300 may determine a context. The context indicates probabilities for a pair of symbols. The angular and azimuthal planar coding modes may be enabled or disabled in a bitstream. The planar mode may be used when the angular planar coding mode and azimuthal planar coding mode are enabled or disabled. However, the process for determining a context for arithmetic coding the planar mode flag and plane position syntax element may be different depending on whether the angular and azimuthal planar coding modes are enabled or disabled). It is noted that Auwera does not teach, but Lasserre teaches the claimed “determining, according to the planar-encoding-mode eligibility, whether a first node in the first node-layer is decoded using a planar encoding mode” (Lasserre, [0078] - Reference is now made to FIG. 5, which shows, in flowchart form, an example method 500 of encoding point cloud data using a planar mode. The method 500 reflects the process for encoding occupancy information for a volume. In this example, the volume is uniformly partitioned into eight sub-volumes, each having an occupancy bit, in accordance with octree-based coding; [0079] - In operation 502, the encoder assesses whether the volume is eligible for planar coding mode. As discussed above, eligibility may be based on cloud density in one example, which may be assessed using mean number of occupied child nodes. To improve local adaptation, eligibility may be based on probability factor tracking. If planar coding mode is not eligible, then the occupancy pattern for the volume is encoded without using planar coding mode, as indicted by operation 504; [0080] - If planar mode is enabled, then in operation 506, the encoder assesses whether the volume is planar. If not, then in operation 508 it encodes the planar mode flag, e.g. isPlanar=0. In operation 510, the encoder then encodes the occupancy pattern based on there being at least one occupied sub-volume per plane. That is, the occupancy pattern is encoded and if the first three bits coded for either plane (upper or lower) are zero then the last (fourth) bit for that plane is not coded and is inferred to be one since the corresponding sub-volume must be occupied; [0081] - If planar mode is enabled and the volume is planar, then in operation 512 the planar mode flag is encoded, e.g. isPlanar=1. Because the volume is planar, the encoder then also encodes the plane position flag, planePosition. The plane position flag signals whether the planar occupied sub-volumes are in the upper half or lower half of the volume. For example, planePosition=0 may correspond to the lower half (i.e. lower z-axis position) and planePosition=1 may correspond to the upper half. The occupancy bits are then encoded based on knowledge of the planarity of the volume and the position of the occupied sub-volumes. That is, up to four bits are encoded since four may be inferred to be zero, and the fourth bit may be inferred to be one if the first three encoded are zero). Thus, it would have been obvious, in view of Lasserre, to configure Auwera’s encoding method as claimed by determining whether a first node in the first node-layer is encoded using a planar encoding mode based on the planar-encoding-mode eligibility. The motivation is to improve the coding of point cloud arranged in octree.
Claim 2 adds into claim 1 “wherein determining the planar-encoding-mode eligibility corresponding to the first node-layer of the tree structure comprises: determining a point cloud density of the first node-layer; and determining the planar-encoding-mode eligibility for the first node-layer according to the point cloud density of the first node-layer” (Auwera, [0037] - Although memory 106 and memory 120 are shown separately from Geometry-based point cloud compression (G-PCC) encoder 200 and G-PCC decoder 300 in this example, it should be understood that G-PCC encoder 200 and G-PCC decoder 300 may also include internal memories for functionally similar or equivalent purposes; [0085] - In general, a node is eligible to be encoded using a planar coding mode if an estimated density of occupied child nodes of the node is below a specific threshold and a probability of using planar mode is above another threshold).
Claim 8 adds into claim 2 “wherein determining the planar-encoding-mode eligibility for the first node-layer according to the point cloud density of the first node-layer comprises: determining that the planar-encoding-mode eligibility indicates to encode the first node using the planar encoding mode, when the point cloud density is less than a preset threshold” (Auwera, [0037] - Although memory 106 and memory 120 are shown separately from Geometry-based point cloud compression (G-PCC) encoder 200 and G-PCC decoder 300 in this example, it should be understood that G-PCC encoder 200 and G-PCC decoder 300 may also include internal memories for functionally similar or equivalent purposes; [0085] - In general, a node is eligible to be encoded using a planar coding mode if an estimated density of occupied child nodes of the node is below a specific threshold and a probability of using planar mode is above another threshold); and “determining that the planar-encoding-mode eligibility indicates not to encode the first node using the planar encoding mode, when the point cloud density is greater than or equal to a preset threshold” (Auwera, [0085] - In general, a node is eligible to be encoded using a planar coding mode if an estimated density of occupied child nodes of the node is below a specific threshold).
Claim 9 adds into claim 8 “wherein determining, according to the planar- encoding-mode eligibility, whether the first node in the first node-layer is encoded using the planar encoding mode comprises: determining that the first node is encoded using the planar encoding mode in a direction of a k-th axis, when the planar-encoding-mode eligibility indicates to encode the first node using the planar encoding mode and the first node satisfies at least one of the following conditions: the planar encoding mode is enabled for the first node; the k-th axis of an occupancy tree node corresponding to the first node is encoded; or the first node is a non-leaf node, wherein k is 0, 1, or 2” (Auwera, [0087] - For an axis index axisidx in the range 0 ... 2, the value of eligible_planar_flag[axisidx] for a current node is determined…; [0089] - The variable planeRate[axisidx], for axisidx in the range 0 ... 2, is an estimate of the probability for a node to be planar in the direction perpendicular to the axisidx-th axis).
A per claim 10, Auwera teaches the claimed “decoding method,” comprising: “obtaining a tree structure for geometry information of a point cloud, wherein the tree structure has at least two node-layers, and each of the at least two node-layers comprises at least one node” (Auwera, [0024] - As part of encoding a point cloud, a G-PCC encoder may generate an octree. Each node of the octree corresponds to a cuboid space. For ease of explanation, this disclosure may, in some circumstances, refer to a node and the cuboid space corresponding to the node interchangeably. Nodes of the octree can have zero child nodes or eight child nodes. In other examples, nodes can be divided into child nodes according to other tree structures. The child nodes of a parent correspond to equally sized cuboids within the cuboid corresponding to the parent node. The positions of individual points of a point cloud can be signaled relative to nodes corresponding to cuboids containing the points. If a node does not contain any points of the point cloud, the node is said to be unoccupied. If the node is unoccupied, it may not be necessary to signal additional data with respect to the node. Conversely, if a node contains one or more points of the point cloud, the node is said to be occupied); “determining planar-decoding-mode eligibility corresponding to a first node-layer of the tree structure” (Auwera, [0037] - Although memory 106 and memory 120 are shown separately from Geometry-based point cloud compression (G-PCC) encoder 200 and G-PCC decoder 300 in this example, it should be understood that G-PCC encoder 200 and G-PCC decoder 300 may also include internal memories for functionally similar or equivalent purposes. Furthermore, memory 106 and memory 120 may store encoded point cloud data, e.g., output from G-PCC encoder 200 and input to G-PCC decoder 300; [0107] - G-PCC encoder 200 and G-PCC decoder 300 may perform arithmetic encoding (e.g., CABAC encoding) and arithmetic decoding (e.g., CABAC decoding) on certain syntax elements, such as a planar mode flag (e.g., is_planar_flag) and a plane position syntax element (e.g., plane_position), relative to the planar coding mode. As part of performing arithmetic coding, G-PCC encoder 200 or G-PCC decoder 300 may determine a context. The context indicates probabilities for a pair of symbols. The angular and azimuthal planar coding modes may be enabled or disabled in a bitstream. The planar mode may be used when the angular planar coding mode and azimuthal planar coding mode are enabled or disabled. However, the process for determining a context for arithmetic coding the planar mode flag and plane position syntax element may be different depending on whether the angular and azimuthal planar coding modes are enabled or disabled). It is noted that Auwera does not teach, but Lasserre teaches the claimed “determining, according to the planar-decoding-mode eligibility, whether a first node in the first node-layer is decoded using a planar decoding mode” (Lasserre, [0082] - For a current volume, the decoder determines whether the volume is eligible for planar mode in operation 602... If not eligible, then the decoder entropy decodes the occupancy pattern as per usual without using planar mode signaling, as indicated by operation 604; [0083] - If planar mode is enabled, then in operation 606 the decoder decodes the planar mode flag. The decoded planar mode flag indicates whether the volume is planar or not, as indicated by operation 608. If not planar, then the decoder decodes occupancy bits knowing at least one sub-volume in each plane is occupied. This may allow the decoder to infer one or two of the occupancy bits depending on the value of the other bits decoded; [0084] - If the decoded planar mode flag indicates that the volume is planar, then in operation 612 the decoder decodes a plane position flag. The decoded plane position flag indicates whether the occupied sub-volumes are the upper half or lower half of the volume. Based on that knowledge, the decoder then infers the value of the four occupancy bits in the unoccupied half as zero and it decodes the up to four bits of the occupancy pattern for the occupied half, as shown by operation 614). Thus, it would have been obvious, in view of Lasserre, to configure Auwera’s decoding method as claimed by determining whether a first node in the first node-layer is decoded using a planar decoding mode based on the planar-decoding-mode eligibility. The motivation is to improve the coding of point cloud arranged in octree.
Claim 11 adds into claim 10 “wherein determining the planar-decoding-mode eligibility corresponding to the first node-layer of the tree structure comprises: “determining a point cloud density of the first node-layer; and determining the planar-decoding-mode eligibility for the first node-layer according to the point cloud density of the first node-layer” (Auwera, [0037] - Although memory 106 and memory 120 are shown separately from Geometry-based point cloud compression (G-PCC) encoder 200 and G-PCC decoder 300 in this example, it should be understood that G-PCC encoder 200 and G-PCC decoder 300 may also include internal memories for functionally similar or equivalent purposes; [0085] - In general, a node is eligible to be encoded using a planar coding mode if an estimated density of occupied child nodes of the node is below a specific threshold and a probability of using planar mode is above another threshold).
Claim 17 adds into claim 11 “wherein determining the planar-decoding-mode eligibility for the first node-layer according to the point cloud density of the first node-layer comprises: determining that the planar-decoding-mode eligibility indicates to decode the first node using the planar decoding mode, when the point cloud density is less than a preset threshold” (Auwera, [0037] - Although memory 106 and memory 120 are shown separately from Geometry-based point cloud compression (G-PCC) encoder 200 and G-PCC decoder 300 in this example, it should be understood that G-PCC encoder 200 and G-PCC decoder 300 may also include internal memories for functionally similar or equivalent purposes; [0085] - In general, a node is eligible to be encoded using a planar coding mode if an estimated density of occupied child nodes of the node is below a specific threshold and a probability of using planar mode is above another threshold); and “determining that the planar-decoding-mode eligibility indicates not to decode the first node using the planar decoding mode, when the point cloud density is greater than or equal to a preset threshold” (Auwera, [0085] - In general, a node is eligible to be encoded using a planar coding mode if an estimated density of occupied child nodes of the node is below a specific threshold).
Claim 18 adds into claim 17 “wherein determining, according to the planar- decoding-mode eligibility, whether the first node in the first node-layer is decoded using the planar decoding mode comprises: “determining that the first node is decoded using the planar decoding mode in a direction of a k-th axis, when the planar-decoding-mode eligibility indicates to decode the first node using the planar decoding mode and the first node satisfies at least one of the following conditions: the planar decoding mode is enabled for the first node; the k-th axis of an occupancy tree node corresponding to the first node is decoded; or the first node is a non-leaf node, wherein k is 0,1,or 2” (Auwera, [0087] - For an axis index axisidx in the range 0 ... 2, the value of eligible_planar_flag[axisidx] for a current node is determined…; [0089] - The variable planeRate[axisidx], for axisidx in the range 0 ... 2, is an estimate of the probability for a node to be planar in the direction perpendicular to the axisidx-th axis).
Claim 19 adds into claim 10 “wherein determining the planar-decoding-mode eligibility corresponding to the first node-layer of the tree structure comprises: initializing the planar-decoding-mode eligibility corresponding to the first node-layer, when the first node-layer is the first layer of nodes of the tree structure” (Auwera, [0057] - The coding of the attributes may be conducted in a level-of-detail (LOD), where with each level of detail a finer representation of the point cloud attribute may be obtained; [0107] - G-PCC encoder 200 and G-PCC decoder 300 may perform arithmetic encoding (e.g., CABAC encoding) and arithmetic decoding (e.g., CABAC decoding) on certain syntax elements, such as a planar mode flag (e.g., is_planar_flag) and a plane position syntax element (e.g., plane_position), relative to the planar coding mode. As part of performing arithmetic coding, G-PCC encoder 200 or G-PCC decoder 300 may determine a context. The context indicates probabilities for a pair of symbols. The angular and azimuthal planar coding modes may be enabled or disabled in a bitstream. The planar mode may be used when the angular planar coding mode and azimuthal planar coding mode are enabled or disabled. However, the process for determining a context for arithmetic coding the planar mode flag and plane position syntax element may be different depending on whether the angular and azimuthal planar coding modes are enabled or disabled).
Claim 20 adds into claim 10 “wherein the tree structure comprises an octree structure” (Auwera, [0024] - As part of encoding a point cloud, a G-PCC encoder may generate an octree. Each node of the octree corresponds to a cuboid space).
Claims 3-7 and 12-16 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.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
In claim 3 and its dependent claims 4-7, the allowable feature is “wherein determining the point cloud density of the first node-layer comprises: determining, in node-layers prior to the first node-layer in the point cloud, a number of points for which a point location direct-encoding-mode is used; determining a first number of occupied child nodes corresponding to a previous node-layer of the first node-layer, wherein the first number of occupied child nodes is a total number of occupied child nodes of a node that is encoded using an occupancy bit encoding mode in the previous node-layer; and determining the point cloud density of the first node-layer according to a number of points in the point cloud, the number of points for which the point location direct-encoding-mode is used, and the first number of occupied child nodes.”
In claim 12 and its dependent claims 13-16, the allowable feature is “wherein determining the point cloud density of the first node-layer comprises: determining, in node-layers prior to the first node-layer in the point cloud, a number of points for which a point location direct-decoding-mode is used; determining a first number of occupied child nodes corresponding to a previous node-layer of the first node-layer, wherein the first number of occupied child nodes is a total number of occupied child nodes of a node that is decoded using an occupancy bit decoding mode in the previous node-layer; and determining the point cloud density of the first node-layer according to a number of points in the point cloud, the number of points for which the point location direct-decoding-mode is used, and the first number of occupied child nodes.”
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/PHU K NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2616
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