Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
1. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
2. The Office Action is in response to amendment filed on 12/08/2025.
Response to Amendment
3. The amendment filed on 12/08/2025, claims 1, 2, 7, 8, 10, and 13 are amended, and claims 6, 12, and 15 are canceled without prejudice to or disclaimer of the subject matter contained therein. Further, new claims 16 and 17 are added; therefore, 1-5, 7-11, 13-14, 16-17 are pending.
Priority
Acknowledgment is made of applicant’s claim for foreign priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 (a)-(d). The certified copy has been filed in Application No. 18838931 filed on 08/15/2024.
Priority # Filling Data Country
10-2022-0020427 2022-02-16 KR
5. Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments filed on 12/08/2025, pages 6-8 have been fully considered.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC §112
Since applicant has amended the claims properly, the 112(b) rejection in the non-final office action 09/10/2025 is withdrawn.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC §103
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim under 35 U.S.C. § 103 has been fully considered.
Applicant argued that the current prior arts (WU et al. (CN 114009046) and in view of Mammou et al. (US 20210090301)) does not discloses the amended limitations as: “wherein the scaling-related information includes information for identifying whether the scaling factor is applied and information for identifying the scaling factor”, since:
“WU and Mammou, individually or in combination, do not disclose or suggest that the
scaling-related information in the signaling information includes information for identifying
whether the scaling factor is applied and information for identifying the scaling factor”.
Examiner’s Response:
After updating search, examiner believes that the combination of WU et al. (CN 114009046), Mammou et al. (US 20210090301), RHYU et al. (WO 2020122675) and Joshi et al. (US 20200219288) teach the aforementioned limitations in independent claims 1, 7, 13, and 16, as presented in this office action.
For example, RHYU discloses that “wherein the scaling-related information includes information for identifying whether the scaling factor is applied” in fig. 11 and in page 14, as: “whether a loss scale factor is applied may be determined in consideration of compression capacity or subjective image quality”; in which, information of compression capacity or subjective image quality is the scaling-related information;
Joshi, on the other hand, discloses that “the scaling-related information includes information for identifying the scaling factor” in fig. 5C, 562 (scaling engine) and paragraph 0121, “The scaling engine 562 identifies the scaling factor or the scaling threshold from the bitstream. For example, after the decoding engine 560 decodes the occupancy map information 558 to generate the occupancy map frames, the scaling engine 562 identifies the scaling factor or the scaling threshold”, in which, the occupancy map information is the scaling-related information.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
6. 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 of this title, 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.
7. Claim 1, 5, 7, 11, 13-14, 16-17 are rejected are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over WU et al. (CN 114009046) and in view of Mammou et al. (US 20210090301) and further in view of RHYU et al. (WO 2020122675) and further in view of Joshi et al. (US 20200219288).
Regarding claim 1, WU teaches a method of encoding point cloud data (fig. 1, the left part; page 7, … The point cloud video encoder 10002 according to the embodiment of the obtained point cloud video data is encoded), the method comprising:
encode geometry information in the point cloud data (as shown in fig. 4; page 17, … perform octree geometry encoding);
encode attribute information in the point cloud data based on the geometry information (as shown in fig. 4; page 40, … performs attribute encoding based on the generated coloring octree);
transmit the encoded geometry information, the encoded attribute information, and signaling information (as shown in fig. 1; page 10, … The bit stream according to an embodiment may also include signalling information relating to geometric coding and attribute coding),
wherein the encoding of the attribute information comprises:
compress the attribute information (fig. 12, 12005; page 27, … the intra/inter coding processor 12005) with or without the scaling factor applied (fig. 12, there is no scaling; however, scaling could be applied, as suggested in page 20, … The up-sampling process is performed).
It is noticed that WU does not disclose explicitly of selectively apply a scaling factor to the attribute information and the signaling information comprises scaling-related information .
. Mammou discloses of selectively apply a scaling factor to the attribute information (i.e., could apply or not apply) (fig. 5A 506 shown scale attribute; fig. 6A shown not apply scaling to attribute) and the signaling information comprises scaling-related information (i.e., different bit rate cause bit rate difference) (fig.5A; paragraph 0143, … apply the right scaling process with the parameters signaled by the encoder).
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to one of ordinary skill in the art to incorporate the technology that selectively apply a scaling factor to the attribute information and the signaling information comprises scaling-related information as a modification to the method for the benefit of adjusting bitrate needed for the transmission (paragraph 0143).
It is noticed that WU does not disclose explicitly of the scaling-related information includes information for identifying whether the scaling factor is applied.
. RHYU discloses of the scaling-related information includes information for identifying whether the scaling factor is applied (fig. 11 and in page 14, as: “whether a loss scale factor is applied may be determined in consideration of compression capacity or subjective image quality”; in which, information of compression capacity or subjective image quality is the scaling-related information).
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to one of ordinary skill in the art to incorporate the technology that the scaling-related information includes information for identifying whether the scaling factor is applied as a modification to the method for the benefit of knowing whether to apply the scale factor such that to increase the processing efficiency (page 14).
It is noticed that WU does not disclose explicitly of the scaling-related information includes information for identifying the scaling factor.
. Joshi discloses of the scaling-related information includes information for identifying the scaling factor (fig. 5C, 562 (scaling engine) and paragraph 0121, “The scaling engine 562 identifies the scaling factor or the scaling threshold from the bitstream. For example, after the decoding engine 560 decodes the occupancy map information 558 to generate the occupancy map frames, the scaling engine 562 identifies the scaling factor or the scaling threshold”, in which, the occupancy map information is the scaling-related information).
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to one of ordinary skill in the art to incorporate the technology that the scaling-related information includes information for identifying the scaling factor as a modification to the method for the benefit of identifying a scale factor from other information (paragraph 0121).
Regarding claim 7, WU teaches an apparatus for encoding point cloud data (fig. 1, left part; page 7, … The point cloud video encoder 10002 according to the embodiment of the obtained point cloud video data is encoded), the method comprising:
a geometry encoder (fig. 4, 4000-4004) configured to encode geometry information in the point cloud data (as shown in fig. 4; page 17, … perform octree geometry encoding);
an attribute encoder (fig. 4, 4006-4012) configured to encode attribute information in the point cloud data based on the geometry information (as shown in fig. 4; page 40, … performs attribute encoding based on the generated coloring octree);
and a transmitter (fig. 1, 10003) configured to transmit the encoded geometry information, the encoded attribute information, and signaling information (as shown in fig. 1; page 10, … The bit stream according to an embodiment may also include signalling information relating to geometric coding and attribute coding),
wherein the attribute encoder is configured to:
compress the attribute information (fig. 12, 12005; page 27, … the intra/inter coding processor 12005) with or without the scaling factor applied (fig. 12, there is no scaling; however, scaling could be applied, as suggested in page 20, … The up-sampling process is performed).
It is noticed that WU does not disclose explicitly of selectively apply a scaling factor to the attribute information and the signaling information comprises scaling-related information .
. Mammou discloses of selectively apply a scaling factor to the attribute information (i.e., could apply or not apply) (fig. 5A 506 shown scale attribute; fig. 6A shown not apply scaling to attribute) and the signaling information comprises scaling-related information (i.e., different bit rate cause bit rate difference) (fig.5A; paragraph 0143, … apply the right scaling process with the parameters signaled by the encoder).
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to one of ordinary skill in the art to incorporate the technology that selectively apply a scaling factor to the attribute information and the signaling information comprises scaling-related information as a modification to the apparatus for the benefit of adjusting bitrate needed for the transmission (paragraph 0143).
It is noticed that WU does not disclose explicitly of the scaling-related information includes information for identifying whether the scaling factor is applied.
. RHYU discloses of the scaling-related information includes information for identifying whether the scaling factor is applied (fig. 11 and in page 14, as: “whether a loss scale factor is applied may be determined in consideration of compression capacity or subjective image quality”; in which, information of compression capacity or subjective image quality is the scaling-related information).
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to one of ordinary skill in the art to incorporate the technology that the scaling-related information includes information for identifying whether the scaling factor is applied as a modification to the apparatus for the benefit of knowing whether to apply the scale factor such that to increase the processing efficiency (page 14).
It is noticed that WU does not disclose explicitly of the scaling-related information includes information for identifying the scaling factor.
. Joshi discloses of the scaling-related information includes information for identifying the scaling factor (fig. 5C, 562 (scaling engine) and paragraph 0121, “The scaling engine 562 identifies the scaling factor or the scaling threshold from the bitstream. For example, after the decoding engine 560 decodes the occupancy map information 558 to generate the occupancy map frames, the scaling engine 562 identifies the scaling factor or the scaling threshold”, in which, the occupancy map information is the scaling-related information).
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to one of ordinary skill in the art to incorporate the technology that the scaling-related information includes information for identifying the scaling factor as a modification to the apparatus for the benefit of identifying a scale factor from other information (paragraph 0121).
Regarding claim 13, WU teaches a method of decoding point cloud data (fig. 1, the right part, page 8, … The point cloud video decoder 10006 decodes the bit stream containing the point cloud video data), the method comprising:
receiving geometry information, attribute information, and signaling information (as shown in fig. 11; page 24, … The point cloud decoder shown in FIG. 11 is an example of the point cloud decoder shown in FIG. 10, and can perform decoding operation, which is the inverse process of the coding operation of the point cloud encoder shown in FIG. 1 to FIG. 9);
decoding the geometry information based on the signaling information (fig. 11, 11000-111004; the signaling information is in the bitstream);
decoding the attribute information based on the signaling information and the decoded geometry information (as shown in fig. 11, 11005-11010; page 40, … performs attribute encoding based on the generated coloring octree);
wherein the decoding of the attribute information comprises:
deriving the attribute information (fig. 13, 13007-13011) with or without the scaling applied (fig. 12, 12005; page 27, … the intra/inter coding processor 12005) based on a reference frame and a current frame containing the attribute information (i.e. by inheritance inter coding processor using a reference frame and a current frame) with and without the scaling factor applied (fig. 12, there is no scaling; however, scaling could be applied, as suggested in page 20, … The up-sampling process is performed).
It is noticed that WU does not disclose explicitly of the signaling information comprises scaling-related information and selectively applying scaling to the attribute information based on the scaling-related information.
. Mammou discloses of the signaling information comprises scaling-related information (fig.5A; paragraph 0143, … apply the right scaling process with the parameters signaled by the encoder) and.selectively apply a scaling factor to the attribute information (i.e., could apply or not apply) (fig. 5A 506 shown scale attribute; fig. 6A shown not apply scaling to attribute)
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to one of ordinary skill in the art to incorporate the technology that the signaling information comprises scaling-related information and selectively applying scaling to the encoded attribute information based on the scaling-related information as a modification to the method for the benefit of adjusting bitrate needed for the transmission (paragraph 0143).
It is noticed that WU does not disclose explicitly of the scaling-related information includes information for identifying whether the scaling factor is applied.
. RHYU discloses of the scaling-related information includes information for identifying whether the scaling factor is applied (fig. 11 and in page 14, as: “whether a loss scale factor is applied may be determined in consideration of compression capacity or subjective image quality”; in which, information of compression capacity or subjective image quality is the scaling-related information).
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to one of ordinary skill in the art to incorporate the technology that the scaling-related information includes information for identifying whether the scaling factor is applied as a modification to the method for the benefit of knowing whether to apply the scale factor such that to increase the processing efficiency (page 14).
It is noticed that WU does not disclose explicitly of the scaling-related information includes information for identifying the scaling factor.
. Joshi discloses of the scaling-related information includes information for identifying the scaling factor (fig. 5C, 562 (scaling engine) and paragraph 0121, “The scaling engine 562 identifies the scaling factor or the scaling threshold from the bitstream. For example, after the decoding engine 560 decodes the occupancy map information 558 to generate the occupancy map frames, the scaling engine 562 identifies the scaling factor or the scaling threshold”, in which, the occupancy map information is the scaling-related information).
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to one of ordinary skill in the art to incorporate the technology that the scaling-related information includes information for identifying the scaling factor as a modification to the method for the benefit of identifying a scale factor from other information (paragraph 0121).
Regarding claim 16, WU teaches an apparatus of decoding point cloud data (fig. 1, the right part, page 8, … The point cloud video decoder 10006 decodes the bit stream containing the point cloud video data), the method comprising:
a receiver (fig. 1, 10007) configured to receive geometry information, attribute information, and signaling information (as shown in fig. 11; page 24, … The point cloud decoder shown in FIG. 11 is an example of the point cloud decoder shown in FIG. 10, and can perform decoding operation, which is the inverse process of the coding operation of the point cloud encoder shown in FIG. 1 to FIG. 9);
a geometry decoder (fig. 11, 11000-11004) configured to decode the geometry information based on the signaling information (fig. 11, 11000-111004; the signaling information is in the bitstream);
an attribute decoder (fig. 11, 11005-11010) configured to decode the attribute information based on the signaling information and the decoded geometry information (as shown in fig. 11, 11005-11010; page 40, … performs attribute encoding based on the generated coloring octree);
wherein the decoding of the attribute information comprises:
deriving the attribute information (fig. 13, 13007-13011) with or without the scaling applied (fig. 12, 12005; page 27, … the intra/inter coding processor 12005) based on a reference frame and a current frame containing the attribute information (i.e. by inheritance inter coding processor using a reference frame and a current frame) with and without the scaling factor applied (fig. 12, there is no scaling; however, scaling could be applied, as suggested in page 20, … The up-sampling process is performed).
It is noticed that WU does not disclose explicitly of the signaling information comprises scaling-related information and selectively applying scaling to the attribute information based on the scaling-related information.
. Mammou discloses of the signaling information comprises scaling-related information (fig.5A; paragraph 0143, … apply the right scaling process with the parameters signaled by the encoder) and.selectively apply a scaling factor to the attribute information (i.e., could apply or not apply) (fig. 5A 506 shown scale attribute; fig. 6A shown not apply scaling to attribute)
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to one of ordinary skill in the art to incorporate the technology that the signaling information comprises scaling-related information and selectively applying scaling to the encoded attribute information based on the scaling-related information as a modification to the apparatus for the benefit of adjusting bitrate needed for the transmission (paragraph 0143).
It is noticed that WU does not disclose explicitly of the scaling-related information includes information for identifying whether the scaling factor is applied.
. RHYU discloses of the scaling-related information includes information for identifying whether the scaling factor is applied (fig. 11 and in page 14, as: “whether a loss scale factor is applied may be determined in consideration of compression capacity or subjective image quality”; in which, information of compression capacity or subjective image quality is the scaling-related information).
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to one of ordinary skill in the art to incorporate the technology that the scaling-related information includes information for identifying whether the scaling factor is applied as a modification to the apparatus for the benefit of knowing whether to apply the scale factor such that to increase the processing efficiency (page 14).
It is noticed that WU does not disclose explicitly of the scaling-related information includes information for identifying the scaling factor.
. Joshi discloses of the scaling-related information includes information for identifying the scaling factor (fig. 5C, 562 (scaling engine) and paragraph 0121, “The scaling engine 562 identifies the scaling factor or the scaling threshold from the bitstream. For example, after the decoding engine 560 decodes the occupancy map information 558 to generate the occupancy map frames, the scaling engine 562 identifies the scaling factor or the scaling threshold”, in which, the occupancy map information is the scaling-related information).
It would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to one of ordinary skill in the art to incorporate the technology that the scaling-related information includes information for identifying the scaling factor as a modification to the apparatus for the benefit of identifying a scale factor from other information (paragraph 0121).
Regarding claim 5, the combination of WU, Mammou, RHYU and Joshi teaches the limitations recited in claim 1 as discussed above. In addition, Mammou further discloses that the scaling-related information is included in at least one of a sequence parameter set, a geometry parameter set, an attribute parameter set, a tile parameter set, a geometry slice header, or an attribute slice header (paragraph 0411, ….include sequence parameter sets, picture parameter sets, geometry video data, occupancy data, texture video data, geometry frame, occupancy frame and texture frame amongst others).
The motivation of combination is the same as in claim 1’s rejection.
Regarding claim 11, the combination of WU, Mammou, RHYU and Joshi teaches the limitations recited in claim 7 as discussed above. In addition, Mammou further discloses that the scaling-related information is included in at least one of a sequence parameter set, a geometry parameter set, an attribute parameter set, a tile parameter set, a geometry slice header, or an attribute slice header (paragraph 0411, ….include sequence parameter sets, picture parameter sets, geometry video data, occupancy data, texture video data, geometry frame, occupancy frame and texture frame amongst others).
The motivation of combination is the same as in claim 7’s rejection.
Regarding claim 14, the combination of WU, Mammou, RHYU and Joshi teaches the limitations recited in claim 13 as discussed above. In addition, Mammou further discloses that the scaling-related information is included in at least one of a sequence parameter set, a geometry parameter set, an attribute parameter set, a tile parameter set, a geometry slice header, or an attribute slice header (paragraph 0411, ….include sequence parameter sets, picture parameter sets, geometry video data, occupancy data, texture video data, geometry frame, occupancy frame and texture frame amongst others).
The motivation of combination is the same as in claim 13’s rejection.
Regarding claim 17, the combination of WU, Mammou, RHYU and Joshi teaches the limitations recited in claim 16 as discussed above. In addition, Mammou further discloses that the scaling-related information is included in at least one of a sequence parameter set, a geometry parameter set, an attribute parameter set, a tile parameter set, a geometry slice header, or an attribute slice header (paragraph 0411, ….include sequence parameter sets, picture parameter sets, geometry video data, occupancy data, texture video data, geometry frame, occupancy frame and texture frame amongst others).
The motivation of combination is the same as in claim 16’s rejection.
Allowable Subject Matter
8. Claim 2 and its depend claims 3-4 would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claim.
Claim 8 and its depend claims 9-10 would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claim.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matters:
For claim 2 and its depend claims 3-4, the prior art does not disclose or suggest the limitations of “wherein the scaling factor is acquired based on an average distribution of the attribute information contained in the current frame and an average distribution of the attribute information contained in the reference frame.”
For claim 8 and its depend claims 9-10, the prior art does not disclose or suggest the limitations of “wherein the scaling factor is acquired based on an average distribution of the attribute information contained in the current frame and an average distribution of the attribute information contained in the reference frame.”
9. Conclusion
. 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 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.
10. Contact Information
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ZAIHAN JIANG whose telephone number is (571)272-1399. The examiner can normally be reached on flexible.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Sath Perungavoor can be reached on (571)272-7455. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-270-0655.
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/ZAIHAN JIANG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2488