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
This patent application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17/702,049 filed Mar. 23, 2022 by Ye-Kui Wang, and titled “Scalable Nesting SEI Messages For All Layers,” which is a continuation of International Application No. PCT/US2020/051859, filed Sep. 21, 2020 by Ye-Kui Wang, and titled “Scalable Nesting SEI Messages For All Layers,” which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/905,144 filed Sep. 24, 2019 by Ye-Kui Wang, and titled “Scalable Nesting of SEI Messages for Layers,” which are hereby incorporated by reference.
The information disclosure statements (IDS)
The information disclosure statements (IDS) were submitted 12/09/2024 and 01/16/2026. The submissions are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements are being considered by the examiner.
Double Patenting
The nonstatutory double patenting rejection is based on a judicially created doctrine grounded in public policy (a policy reflected in the statute) so as to prevent the unjustified or improper timewise extension of the “right to exclude” granted by a patent and to prevent possible harassment by multiple assignees.
A nonstatutory obviousness-type double patenting rejection is appropriate where the conflicting claims are not identical, but at least one examined application claim is not patentably distinct from the reference claim(s) because the examined application claim is either anticipated by, or would have been obvious over, the reference claim(s). See, e.g., In re Berg, 140 F.3d 1428, 46 USPQ2d 1226 (Fed. Cir. 1998); In re Goodman, 11 F.3d 1046, 29 USPQ2d 2010 (Fed. Cir. 1993); In re Longi, 759 F.2d 887, 225 USPQ 645 (Fed. Cir. 1985); In re Van Ornum, 686 F.2d 937, 214 USPQ 761 (CCPA 1982); In re Vogel, 422 F.2d 438, 164 USPQ 619 (CCPA 1970); and In re Thorington, 418 F.2d 528, 163 USPQ 644 (CCPA 1969).
A timely filed terminal disclaimer in compliance with 37 CFR 1.321(c) or 1.321(d) may be used to overcome an actual or provisional rejection based on a nonstatutory double patenting ground provided the conflicting application or patent either is shown to be commonly owned with this application, or claims an invention made as a result of activities undertaken within the scope of a joint research agreement.
Effective January 1, 1994, a registered attorney or agent of record may sign a terminal disclaimer. A terminal disclaimer signed by the assignee must fully comply with 37 CFR 3.73(b).
The USPTO internet Web site contains terminal disclaimer forms which may be used. Please visit http://www.uspto.gov/forms/. The filing date of the application will determine what form should be used. A web-based eTerminal Disclaimer may be filled out completely online using web-screens. An eTerminal Disclaimer that meets all requirements is auto-processed and approved immediately upon submission. For more information about eTerminal Disclaimers, refer to http://www.uspto.gov/patents/process/file/efs/guidance/eTD-info-I.jsp.
6. Claims 1-18 is provisionally rejected under the judicially created doctrine of obviousness-type double patenting as being unpatentable over claim 1-14 of copending Application No. 17/702,049.
Please see further example below. Differences are bolded in the following comparison table.
Current application 18/968,451
Copending application 17/702,049
Claim 1
Claim 1
A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising a computer program product for use by a video coding device, the computer program product comprising computer executable instructions stored on the non-transitory computer readable medium such that when executed by a processor cause the video coding device to: receive a bitstream comprising one or more layers and a scalable nesting supplemental enhancement information (SEI) message in a current SEI network abstraction layer (NAL) unit,
wherein the scalable nesting SEI message contains scalable-nested SEI messages and a scalable nesting all layers flag (all_layers_flag) that specifies whether the scalable-nested SEI messages apply to all layers that have a layer identifier (Id) that is greater than or equal to a layer Id of the current SEI NAL unit; derive a number of nesting layers (nestingNumLayers) variable that specifies a number of layers to which the scalable-nested SEI messages apply and a list of nesting layer Ids (NestingLayerId[i]) that specifies a list of NAL unit header layer Id (nuh_layer_id) values of the layers to which the scalable-nested SEI messages apply for i in a range of zero to nestingNumLayers minus one, inclusive, wherein the nestingNumLayers and the NestingLayerId[i] are derived as follows: TABLE-US-00010 if( scalable nesting all_layers_flag ) { nestingNumLayers = vps_max_layers_minus1 + 1 − GeneralLayerIdx[ nuh_layer_id ] for( i = 0; i < nestingNumLayers; i ++) NestingLayerId[ i ] = vps_layer_id[ GeneralLayerIdx[ nuh_layer_id ] + i ] } else { nestingNumLayers = scalable nesting num_layers_minus1 + 1 for( i = 0; i < nestingNumLayers; i ++) NestingLayerId[ i ] = ( i = = 0 ) ? nuh_layer_id : scalable nesting layer_id[ i ] } where vps_max_layers_minus1 plus one specifies a number of layers specified by a video parameter set (VPS), GeneralLayerIdx is a variable specifying a layer index of a layer with nuh_layer_id equal to vps_layer_id[i], vps_layer_id[i] specifies a nuh_layer_id value of an i-th layer, scalable nesting num_layers_minus1 plus one specifies a number of layers to which the scalable-nested SEI messages apply, and scalable nesting layer_id[i] specifies a nuh_layer_id value of an i-th layer to which the scalable-nested SEI messages apply; and decode a coded picture from the one or more layers to produce a decoded picture.
A method implemented in a decoder, the method comprising: receiving a bitstream comprising one or more layers and a scalable nesting supplemental enhancement information (SEI) message in a current SEI network abstraction layer (NAL) unit,
wherein the scalable nesting SEI message contains scalable-nested SEI messages and a scalable nesting all layers flag (all_layers_flag) that specifies whether the scalable-nested SEI messages apply to all layers that have a layer identifier (Id) that is greater than or equal to a layer Id of the current SEI NAL unit; deriving a number of nesting layers (nestingNumLayers) variable that specifies a number of layers to which the scalable-nested SEI messages apply and a list of nesting layer Ids (NestingLayerId[i]) that specifies a list of NAL unit header layer Id (nuh_layer_id) values of the layers to which the scalable-nested SEI messages apply for i in a range of zero to nestingNumLayers minus one, inclusive, wherein the nestingNumLayers and the NestingLayerId[i] are derived as follows: if(scalable nesting all_layers_flag){ nestingNumLayers=vps_max_layers_minus1+1−GeneralLayerIdx[nuh_layer_id] for(i=0; i<nestingNumLayers; i++) NestingLayerId[i]=vps_layer_id[GeneralLayerIdx[nuh_layer_id]+i]} else {nestingNumLayers=scalable nesting_num_layers_minus1+1 for(i=0; i<nestingNumLayers; i++) NestingLayerId[i]=(i==0)?nuh_layer_id:scalable nesting layer_id[i]} where vps_max_layers_minus1 plus one specifies a number of layers specified by a video parameter set (VPS), GeneralLayerIdx is a variable specifying a layer index of a layer with nuh_layer_id equal to vps_layer_id[i], vps_layer_id[i] specifies a nuh_layer_id value of an i-th layer, scalable nesting num_layers_minus1 plus one specifies a number of layers to which the scalable-nested SEI messages apply, and scalable nesting layer_id[i] specifies a nuh_layer_id value of an i-th layer to
Although the conflicting claims are not identical, they are not patentably distinct from each other because they are substantially similar in scope and they use the same limitations, using varying terminology. Furthermore, both sets of claims speak “decoding a video" and perform the same functions and are only different in a non-transitory computer readable medium comprising a computer program product and a method implemented in a decoder. It has been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time the invention was made to substitute in “a non-transitory computer readable medium comprising a computer program product " with "a method implemented in a decoder" because the remaining elements would have performed the same function as before. Such substitution would not interfere with the functionality of the remaining elements.
This is a provisional obviousness-type double patenting rejection because the conflicting claims have not in fact been patented.
Allowable Subject Matter
8. Claims 1-18 will be allowable if Double Patenting Rejection is overcome by 1) filing a Terminal Disclaimer or 2) amending the claim(s).
Conclusion
9. Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to ON MUNG whose telephone number is (571) 270-7557 and whose direct fax number is (571) 270-8557. The examiner can normally be reached on Mon-Fri 9am - 6pm (ET).
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, JAMIE ATALA can be reached on (571)272-7384. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ON S MUNG/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2486