DETAILED ACTION
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 .
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The information disclosure statement(s) (IDS) submitted on 10/21/2024 and 09/26/2025 is/are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement(s) is/are being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
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 taught 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.
The factual inquiries set forth in Graham v. John Deere Co., 383 U.S. 1, 148 USPQ 459 (1966), that are applied for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
Claim(s) 1-7, 10-17, and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Li et al. (US 20220108494) (hereinafter Li) in view of Yea et al. (US 20200105025) (hereinafter Yea).
Regarding claim 1, Li teaches A point cloud processing method, performed by a decoding device, the method comprising:
determining a plurality of coding schemes of a first point to be decoded in the point cloud, in a plurality of K directions, based on the coding data; and decoding the first point based on the determined plurality of coding schemes, wherein K is a positive integer (see Li paragraphs 27, 58-69, 83-90, and 95-99 regarding a plurality of coding schemes of points in a point clouds in a plurality of directions, and decoding a point based on the coding scheme, where there is a default setting used for the point that may be used for the plurality of directions, or else a different scheme may be used per direction, and scheme setting information is included to be able to determine whether the same coding scheme is used for different directions, or else further coding schemes are used for the point based on the division flag, and so on, obviously iteratively to the sixth, with multiple bits functioning as syntax to set information about the scheme based on a target value, a quantization parameter is included in the process of determining the coding scheme, and decoding comprises residual value decoding based on the coding schemes to obtain reconstructed values).
However, Li does not explicitly teach coding data of a point cloud as needed for the limitations of claim 1.
Yea, in a similar field of endeavor, teaches obtaining coding data of a point cloud (see Yea paragraphs 5 and 78-85 regarding obtaining coding indexes of point cloud data- in combination with Li, the process of obtaining coding indexes of coding data of a point cloud may be included in the process of determining coding schemes of a point cloud);
Therefore, it would have been obvious to a person of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the application to modify the teaching of Li to include the teaching of Yea so that in combination with Li, the process of obtaining coding indexes of coding data of a point cloud may be included in the process of determining coding schemes of a point cloud.
One would be motivated to combine these teachings in order to provide methods for handing and decision making parameters for point clouds (see Yea paragraphs 5 and 78-85).
Regarding claim 2, the combination of Li and Yea teaches all aforementioned limitations of claim 1, and is analyzed as previously discussed.
Furthermore, the combination of Li and Yea teaches wherein the coding data includes default setting information, wherein the determining the plurality of coding schemes comprises: determining, based on the default setting information, that a default coding scheme is used for the first point in the plurality of K directions; based on the default setting information indicating the plurality of coding schemes in the plurality of K directions are the same, using a same default coding scheme for the first point in all of the plurality of K directions; and based on the default setting information indicating the plurality of coding schemes in the plurality of K directions are different, using different default coding schemes for the first point in different directions of the plurality of K directions, and wherein the default setting information is set by default by a decoder side and a coder side (see Li paragraphs 27, 58-69, 83-90, and 95-99 regarding a plurality of coding schemes of points in a point clouds in a plurality of directions, and decoding a point based on the coding scheme, where there is a default setting used for the point that may be used for the plurality of directions, or else a different scheme may be used per direction, and scheme setting information is included to be able to determine whether the same coding scheme is used for different directions, or else further coding schemes are used for the point based on the division flag, and so on, obviously iteratively to the sixth, with multiple bits functioning as syntax to set information about the scheme based on a target value, a quantization parameter is included in the process of determining the coding scheme, and decoding comprises residual value decoding based on the coding schemes to obtain reconstructed values).
Regarding claim 3, the combination of Li and Yea teaches all aforementioned limitations of claim 1, and is analyzed as previously discussed.
Furthermore, the combination of Li and Yea teaches wherein the coding data includes scheme setting information, wherein the determining the plurality of coding schemes comprises: based on the scheme setting information being common to the first point in the plurality of K directions: determining a same coding scheme is used for the first point in the plurality of K directions, and determining a first coding scheme common to the first point in the plurality of K directions based on the scheme setting information common to the first point in the plurality of K directions; and based on the first point having one piece of scheme setting information in each of the plurality of K directions: determining different coding schemes are used for the first point in the plurality of K directions, and determining a second coding scheme of the first point in each direction based on the scheme setting information of the first point in each direction, and wherein the scheme setting information is determined from at least one of a coding parameter set of the point cloud or a coded bitstream of the point cloud (see Li paragraphs 27, 58-69, 83-90, and 95-99 regarding a plurality of coding schemes of points in a point clouds in a plurality of directions, and decoding a point based on the coding scheme, where there is a default setting used for the point that may be used for the plurality of directions, or else a different scheme may be used per direction, and scheme setting information is included to be able to determine whether the same coding scheme is used for different directions, or else further coding schemes are used for the point based on the division flag, and so on, obviously iteratively to the sixth, with multiple bits functioning as syntax to set information about the scheme based on a target value, a quantization parameter is included in the process of determining the coding scheme, and decoding comprises residual value decoding based on the coding schemes to obtain reconstructed values).
Regarding claim 4, the combination of Li and Yea teaches all aforementioned limitations of claim 3, and is analyzed as previously discussed.
Furthermore, the combination of Li and Yea teaches wherein the scheme setting information includes at least one of a first field that is a residual division flag field or a second field that is a number-of-occupied-bits division flag field, and wherein the determining the first coding scheme comprises: determining the first coding scheme is a third coding scheme based on: the scheme setting information including the first field, and a first value of the first field being a target value; determining the first coding scheme is a fourth coding scheme based on: the scheme setting information including the second field, and a second value of the second field being the target value; and determining the first coding scheme is a fifth coding scheme based on: the scheme setting information including the first field and the second field, and the first value and the second value being the target value (see Li paragraphs 27, 58-69, 83-90, and 95-99 regarding a plurality of coding schemes of points in a point clouds in a plurality of directions, and decoding a point based on the coding scheme, where there is a default setting used for the point that may be used for the plurality of directions, or else a different scheme may be used per direction, and scheme setting information is included to be able to determine whether the same coding scheme is used for different directions, or else further coding schemes are used for the point based on the division flag, and so on, obviously iteratively to the sixth, with multiple bits functioning as syntax to set information about the scheme based on a target value, a quantization parameter is included in the process of determining the coding scheme, and decoding comprises residual value decoding based on the coding schemes to obtain reconstructed values).
Regarding claim 5, the combination of Li and Yea teaches all aforementioned limitations of claim 1, and is analyzed as previously discussed.
Furthermore, the combination of Li and Yea teaches wherein the coding data includes a decision threshold, wherein the determining the plurality of coding schemes comprises: parsing out scheme decision information from a coded bitstream (see Li paragraphs 27, 58-69, 83-90, and 95-99 regarding a plurality of coding schemes of points in a point clouds in a plurality of directions, and decoding a point based on the coding scheme, where there is a default setting used for the point that may be used for the plurality of directions, or else a different scheme may be used per direction, and scheme setting information is included to be able to determine whether the same coding scheme is used for different directions, or else further coding schemes are used for the point based on the division flag, and so on, obviously iteratively to the sixth, with multiple bits functioning as syntax to set information about the scheme based on a target value, a quantization parameter is included in the process of determining the coding scheme, and decoding comprises residual value decoding based on the coding schemes to obtain reconstructed values); and
deciding the plurality of coding schemes of the first point in the plurality of K directions based on the scheme decision information and the decision threshold, and wherein the decision threshold is set by default by a decoder side and a coder side, or the decision threshold is determined from the coded bitstream (see Yea paragraphs 5 and 78-85 regarding quantization threshold for a parameter used in a point cloud coding system to determine whether to use a certain type of approach to coding based on whether a quantization parameter is above or below a threshold, with different methods being used based on that determination- in combination with Li, the decision for the coding schemes may be based on whether the quantization parameter is above or below a threshold).
Regarding claim 6, the combination of Li and Yea teaches all aforementioned limitations of claim 5, and is analyzed as previously discussed.
Furthermore, the combination of Li and Yea teaches wherein the decision threshold includes a quantization threshold (see Yea paragraphs 5 and 78-85 regarding quantization threshold for a parameter used in a point cloud coding system to determine whether to use a certain type of approach to coding based on whether a quantization parameter is above or below a threshold, with different methods being used based on that determination- in combination with Li, the decision for the coding schemes may be based on whether the quantization parameter is above or below a threshold),
wherein the scheme decision information includes a quantization parameter common to the first point in the plurality of K directions, wherein a same coding scheme is used for the first point in the plurality of K directions (see Li paragraphs 27, 58-69, 83-90, and 95-99 regarding a plurality of coding schemes of points in a point clouds in a plurality of directions, and decoding a point based on the coding scheme, where there is a default setting used for the point that may be used for the plurality of directions, or else a different scheme may be used per direction, and scheme setting information is included to be able to determine whether the same coding scheme is used for different directions, or else further coding schemes are used for the point based on the division flag, and so on, obviously iteratively to the sixth, with multiple bits functioning as syntax to set information about the scheme based on a target value, a quantization parameter is included in the process of determining the coding scheme, and decoding comprises residual value decoding based on the coding schemes to obtain reconstructed values), and
wherein the deciding the plurality of coding schemes comprises determining a sixth coding scheme common to the first point in the plurality of K directions based on a first magnitude relationship between the quantization parameter and the quantization threshold (see Yea paragraphs 5 and 78-85 regarding quantization threshold for a parameter used in a point cloud coding system to determine whether to use a certain type of approach to coding based on whether a quantization parameter is above or below a threshold, with different methods being used based on that determination- in combination with Li, the decision for the coding schemes may be based on whether the quantization parameter is above or below a threshold).
Regarding claim 7, the combination of Li and Yea teaches all aforementioned limitations of claim 6, and is analyzed as previously discussed.
Furthermore, the combination of Li and Yea teaches wherein the quantization threshold includes at least one of a first quantization threshold or a second quantization threshold, and wherein the determining the sixth coding scheme comprises determining the first coding scheme is any one of a third coding scheme, a fourth coding scheme, or a fifth coding scheme based on: the quantization threshold including the first quantization threshold and the quantization parameter being less than the first quantization threshold, the quantization threshold including the second quantization threshold and the quantization parameter being greater than the second quantization threshold, or the quantization threshold including the first quantization threshold and the second quantization threshold and the quantization parameter being greater than the second quantization threshold and less than the first quantization threshold (see Yea paragraphs 5 and 78-85 regarding quantization threshold for a parameter used in a point cloud coding system to determine whether to use a certain type of approach to coding based on whether a quantization parameter is above or below a threshold, with different methods being used based on that determination- in combination with Li, the decision for the coding schemes may be based on whether the quantization parameter is above or below a threshold), .
Regarding claim 10, the combination of Li and Yea teaches all aforementioned limitations of claim 1, and is analyzed as previously discussed.
Furthermore, the combination of Li and Yea teaches wherein the decoding the first point comprises performing residual value decoding for the first point in each of the plurality of K directions based on the determined plurality of coding schemes, to obtain reconstructed residual values of the first point in the plurality of K directions (see Li paragraphs 27, 58-69, 83-90, and 95-99 regarding a plurality of coding schemes of points in a point clouds in a plurality of directions, and decoding a point based on the coding scheme, where there is a default setting used for the point that may be used for the plurality of directions, or else a different scheme may be used per direction, and scheme setting information is included to be able to determine whether the same coding scheme is used for different directions, or else further coding schemes are used for the point based on the division flag, and so on, obviously iteratively to the sixth, with multiple bits functioning as syntax to set information about the scheme based on a target value, a quantization parameter is included in the process of determining the coding scheme, and decoding comprises residual value decoding based on the coding schemes to obtain reconstructed values).
Independent claim(s) 11 is/are analogous in scope to claim(s) 1, albeit regarding an apparatus with a memory configured to store program code as taught by Li paragraphs 7 and 106, and is/are rejected according to the same reasoning.
Dependent claim(s) 12-19 is/are analogous in scope to claim(s) 2-9, and is/are rejected according to the same reasoning.
Independent claim(s) 20 is/are analogous in scope to claim(s) 1, albeit regarding a non transitory computer readable medium storing code as taught by Li paragraphs 7 and 106, and is/are rejected according to the same reasoning.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claim(s) 8-9 and 18-19 is/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: Claim 8 contains the limitations regarding a decision threshold for a coding scheme for a point cloud coding method where based on a same coding scheme being used for a first point in a plurality of direction, statistical characteristic information of the first coding parsing information is determined and a seventh or eighth coding scheme common to the first point in the plurality of directions or in each direction is determined based on a second or third magnitude relationship between the coding parsing threshold and statistical characteristic information or second coding parsing information. Claim 9 contains the limitations regarding a decision threshold for a coding scheme for a point cloud coding method includes a bounding box threshold, wherein the scheme decision information includes a bounding box size of a prediction tree of the point cloud, and the deciding includes, based on a same coding scheme being used for the first point in a plurality of directions, determining a target size feature value based on the sizes in the plurality of directions and determining a ninth coding scheme common to the first point based on a fourth magnitude relationship between the target size and bounding box, or determining a size feature value of each of the plurality of directions based on the sizes in the plurality of directions and determining a tenth coding scheme of the first point in each direction based on a fifth magnitude relationship between the bounding box and the size feature value in each direction. At the time of the effective filing date of the application, these limitations had not been fully anticipated and it would not have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine elements of the prior art to meet this limitation. Claim(s) 18-19 contain(s) allowable subject matter for the same reasons as claims 8-9. The claim(s) depending on these claim(s) contain allowable subject matter for the reasons concerning these claim(s).
The closest prior art, Li et al. (US 20220108494), Yea et al. (US 20200105025), Ramasubramonian et al. (US 20220207780), Helmrich et al. (US 20210289215), Lasserre et al. (US 20240187631), Yang et al. (US 20240062429), Ray et al. (US 20220210480), Niigaki et al. (US 20220215572), Lasserre et al. (US 20220358686), Zhao et al. (US 20190327463), Boyce et al. (US 20210258590), Gao et al. (US 20220292730), Jung et al. (US 20220292761) either singularly or in combination fail to anticipate or render obvious the above described limitations. While the prior art teaches different methods of coding point clouds and selecting coding schemes for point clouds, the prior art does not teach a decision threshold for a coding scheme for a point cloud coding method where based on a same coding scheme being used for a first point in a plurality of direction, statistical characteristic information of the first coding parsing information is determined and a seventh or eighth coding scheme common to the first point in the plurality of directions or in each direction is determined based on a second or third magnitude relationship between the coding parsing threshold and statistical characteristic information or second coding parsing information or a decision threshold for a coding scheme for a point cloud coding method includes a bounding box threshold, wherein the scheme decision information includes a bounding box size of a prediction tree of the point cloud, and the deciding includes, based on a same coding scheme being used for the first point in a plurality of directions, determining a target size feature value based on the sizes in the plurality of directions and determining a ninth coding scheme common to the first point based on a fourth magnitude relationship between the target size and bounding box, or determining a size feature value of each of the plurality of directions based on the sizes in the plurality of directions and determining a tenth coding scheme of the first point in each direction based on a fifth magnitude relationship between the bounding box and the size feature value in each direction. Therefore, at the time of the effective filing date of the application, these limitations had not been fully anticipated and it would not have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to combine elements of the prior art to meet this limitation.
Conclusion
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/MATTHEW DAVID KIM/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2483
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