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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(d):
(d) REFERENCE IN DEPENDENT FORMS.—Subject to subsection (e), a claim in dependent form shall contain a reference to a claim previously set forth and then specify a further limitation of the subject matter claimed. A claim in dependent form shall be construed to incorporate by reference all the limitations of the claim to which it refers.
The following is a quotation of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, fourth paragraph:
Subject to the following paragraph [i.e., the fifth paragraph of pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112], a claim in dependent form shall contain a reference to a claim previously set forth and then specify a further limitation of the subject matter claimed. A claim in dependent form shall be construed to incorporate by reference all the limitations of the claim to which it refers.
Claim 17 rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(d) or pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, 4th paragraph, as being of improper dependent form for failing to further limit the subject matter of the claim upon which it depends, or for failing to include all the limitations of the claim upon which it depends. While claim 14 states “ wherein at least one of the one or more picture filtering flags has a value of 1 based on there being more than one input picture and the purpose information not being related to picture rate upsampling” dependent claim 17 states “the one or more picture filtering flags is included in the obtained NNPFC SEI message regardless of whether the purpose information of the post filter is related to picture rate upsampling.” Which broadens the scope required for the purpose information. Applicant may cancel the claim(s), amend the claim(s) to place the claim(s) in proper dependent form, rewrite the claim(s) in independent form, or present a sufficient showing that the dependent claim(s) complies with the statutory requirements.
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.
Claim(s) 14-23 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Wang et al. US 2025/0342613
Wang discloses:
14. and under similar/complementary rationales 18 and 23. A method for decoding an image (0314) comprising: obtaining a neural-network post-filter characteristics (NNPFC) supplemental enhancement information (SEI) message, wherein the NNPFC SEI message includes one or more picture filtering flags corresponding to at least one input picture and purpose information indicating a purpose of a post-filter (0290-0301); and determining whether a corresponding output picture for each input picture is generated by the post-filter based on a picture filtering flag corresponding to the input picture included in the one or more picture filtering flags, wherein a value of the picture filtering flag equal to 1 indicates that the post-filter generates the corresponding output picture for the input picture, and the value equal to 0 indicates that the post-filter does not generate the corresponding output picture for the input picture (0298-9);
14. additionally has and obtaining an output picture generated by the post-filter corresponding to one of the at least one input picture based on the determination, wherein at least one of the one or more picture filtering flags has a value of 1 based on there being more than one input picture and the purpose information not being related to picture rate upsampling (0281; 0290-0301).
15. and 19. The method of claim 14, wherein a number of the at least one input picture and a number of the one or more picture filtering flags are determined based on number information included in the NNPFC SEI message (0290-0301).
16. and 20. The method of claim 15, wherein based on the number of the at least one input picture being equal to 1, the one or more picture filtering flags includes a corresponding picture filtering flag having a value equal to 1 (0290-0301).
17. and 21. The method of claim 14, wherein the one or more picture filtering flags is included in the obtained NNPFC SEI message regardless of whether the purpose information of the post filter is related to picture rate upsampling (0290-0301).
In regard to claim 22, it is directed to a non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored therein a bitstream generated by acts. Significantly, the claimed non-transitory computer readable medium is NOT implementing any actual method; no instructions/steps are being executed. Instead, the claimed storage medium merely stores the data output from and/or generated by a series of acts. In other words, these claims are directed to a mere machine-readable medium storing data content (a bitstream generated by a method).
Applicant therefore seeks to patent the storage of a bitstream in the abstract. In other words, the claim seeks to patent the content of the information (bitstream comprising video information) and not the process itself. Moreover, this stored bitstream does not impose any definitive physical organization on the data as there is no functional relationship between the bitstream and the storage medium. In conclusion, the identified claim and any claims depending therefrom are directed to mere data content (bitstream generated by a series of acts) stored as a bitstream on a computer-readable storage medium. Under MPEP 2111.05(III), such claims are merely machine-readable media. Furthermore, the Examiner found and continues to find that there is no disclosed or claimed functional relationship between the stored data and medium. Instead, the medium is merely a support or carrier for the data being stored. Therefore, the data stored and the way such data is generated should not be given patentable weight. See MPEP 2111.05 applying In re Lowry, 32 F.3d 1579, 1583-84, 32 USPQ2d 1031, 1035 (Fed. Cir. 1994) and In re Ngai, 367 F.3d 1336, 70 USPQ2d 1862 (Fed. Cir. 2004). As such, this claim is subject to a prior art rejection based on any non-transitory computer readable medium known before the earliest effective filing date of the present application. Therefore, the claim is anticipated by
Wang, which discloses
22. A computer-readable medium recording a bitstream generated by the image encoding method of claim 18 (Fig. 6: encoded bitstream).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to JOSEPH W BECKER whose telephone number is (571)270-7301. The examiner can normally be reached flexible usually 10-6.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Joseph G Ustaris can be reached at 5712727383. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/JOSEPH W BECKER/ Examiner, Art Unit 2483
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