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 .
Priority
Applicant’s claim for the benefit of a prior-filed application under 35 U.S.C. 119(e) or under 35 U.S.C. 120, 121, 365(c), or 386(c) is acknowledged. Applicant has not complied with one or more conditions for receiving the benefit of an earlier filing date under 35 U.S.C. 120 as follows:
The later-filed application must be an application for a patent for an invention which is also disclosed in the prior application (the parent or original nonprovisional application or provisional application). The disclosure of the invention in the parent application and in the later-filed application must be sufficient to comply with the requirements of 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, except for the best mode requirement. See Transco Products, Inc. v. Performance Contracting, Inc., 38 F.3d 551, 32 USPQ2d 1077 (Fed. Cir. 1994).
The disclosure of the prior-filed application, Application Nos. 17/220,250, 17/887,287, and 18/196,434, fail to provide adequate support or enablement in the manner provided by 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, first paragraph for one or more claims of this application. The above applications do not provide support for:
(i) a value of a product of (a) a value of the second syntax element and (b) a chroma
format sub width variable and (ii) a value of a product of (a) a value of the third syntax element
and (b) a chroma format sub width variable are less than a value of a picture width in units of
luma samples, and
(i) a value of a product of (a) a value of the fourth syntax element and (b) a chroma
format sub height variable and (ii) a value of a product of (a) a value of the fifth syntax element
and (b) a chroma format sub height variable are less than a picture height in units of luma
samples.
The earlier specification disclose: “pps_conf_win_left_offset”, etc. (See, for instance [0287] in the 17/887,287 specification as published, or page 50 in the as-filed specification.), which is a conformance cropping window flag. However, this flag is different from the claimed scaling window offset flag, used for reference picture resampling in the instant application.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.
Claims 1-3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the enablement requirement. The claim(s) contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to enable one skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and/or use the invention.
The specification describes that in [0363] “The value of SubWidthC*(scaling_win_left_offset+
scaling_win_right_offset) shall be less than pic_width_in_luma_ samples, and the value of SubHeightC*(scaling_win_top_offset+scaling_win_bottom_offset) shall be less than pic_height_inluma_samples. [emphasis added].” In the specification, the sum of the left and right scaling window offsets, and the sum of the top and bottom scaling window offsets, scaled by format subheight, are each less than pic_height in luma samples. However, in the claims, the left and right offset samples, individually, and the top and bottom offset samples individually, are less than a value of a luma picture width, which is not consistent, and which would not ensure proper sizing of the resampled reference picture, because either a right offset or left offset, or top offset or bottom offset, could independently exceed an allowable amount.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
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 1-3 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Chuang, US 2021/0218956 A1, citing ITU-T Recommendation, H.266, August 2020, specification as a teaching reference.
Regarding claim 1, Chuang discloses: a method of decoding video data, the method comprising:
receiving a picture parameter set;
parsing a first syntax element in the picture parameter set, wherein the first syntax element indicates scaling window offset parameters are present in the picture parameter set (See [0020], “scaling_window_flag equal to 1 specifies that the scaling window offset parameters are present in the PPS. scaling_ window flag equal to 0 specifies that the scaling window offset parameters are not present in the PPS. When ref_pic_resampling_enabled_flag is equal to 0, the value of scaling_ window flag shall be equal to 0.”);
parsing a second syntax element in the picture parameter set, wherein the second syntax
element specifies a left scaling window offset (See Table 1, “scaling_win_left_offset.”);
parsing a third syntax element in the picture parameter set, wherein the third syntax
element specifies a right scaling window offset (See Table 1, “scaling_win_right_offset.”);
parsing a fourth syntax element in the picture parameter set, wherein the fourth syntax
element specifies a top scaling window offset (See Table 1, “scaling_win_top_offset.”); and
parsing a fifth syntax element in the picture parameter set, wherein the fifth syntax
element specifies a bottom scaling window offset (See Table 1, “scaling_win_bottom_offset.”)),
wherein each of the second syntax element, the third syntax element, the fourth syntax element, and the fifth syntax element are a signed integer 0-th order exponential Golomb coded syntax element with a left bit first and may have positive or negative values (See “ue(v)” descriptor in Table 1 of Chuang. Note that this descriptor is defined in the VVC specification, upon which Chuang is based (Chuang [0005], as “ue(v): unsigned integer 0-th order Exp-Golomb-coded syntax element with the left bit first. The parsing process for this descriptor is specified in clause 9.2 with the order k equal to 0.” (H.266 spec., 7.2, p. 35, “Specification of syntax functions and descriptors.”)),
(i) a value of a product of (a) a value of the second syntax element and (b) a chroma
format sub width variable and (ii) a value of a product of (a) a value of the third syntax element
and (b) a chroma format sub width variable are less than a value of a picture width in units of
luma samples (See [0057], which discloses, “PicOutputWidthL= pic_width_in_luma_samples - SubWidthC*(scaling_win_right_offset + scaling_win_left_offset).” The product of a chroma format subwidth variable, subwidthC, and the sum of left and right scaling window offsets is less pic_width_in_luma_samples, (necessarily, or picOutputWidthL would be negative.), and
(i) a value of a product of (a) a value of the fourth syntax element and (b) a chroma
format sub height variable and (ii) a value of a product of (a) a value of the fifth syntax element
and (b) a chroma format sub height variable are less than a picture height in units of luma samples (See [0057], which discloses: PicOutputHeightL = pic_height_in_luma_samples - SubHeightC*(
scaling_win_bottom_offset + scaling_win_top_offset ). The product of a chroma format subheight variable, subheightC, and the sum of top and bottom scaling window offsets is less pic_height_in_luma_samples, (necessarily, or PicOutputHeighL would be negative).
Device encoding claim 2 and Device decoding claim 3 are respectfully rejected as reciting an encoding device and decoding device that perform a method corresponding to decoding method claim 1.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KYLE M LOTFI whose telephone number is (571)272-8762. The examiner can normally be reached 9:00-5:00.
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/KYLE M LOTFI/Examiner, Art Unit 2425